Kuymak

Kuymak is the signature breakfast dish of Trabzon and the wider Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey — an area of mist-covered mountains, hazelnut groves, and dairy farming that has shaped a cuisine entirely its own. The dish is made by cooking corn flour in a generous pool of butter until it thickens, then melting in a local stretchy cheese (kolot or mozzarella in modern interpretations) to create a molten, golden porridge unlike anything else in Turkish cooking.

The Black Sea coast developed corn as a staple crop centuries ago after it arrived via trade routes from the Americas. Kuymak — also called "mıhlama" inland — became the energy-dense breakfast that sustained shepherds and farmers through cold highland mornings. Every village had its own ratio of butter to corn flour to cheese, and those ratios were passed down through generations as proudly as any recipe.

At Cappadocia Café we honour the original with corn flour, high-quality butter, and a special melting cheese that forms long, glorious strings when you tear a piece of toasted Turkish bread through it. It is one of those dishes that sounds simple and tastes like a revelation.