Kishmish

(Turkish and Tadzhik), a group of grape varieties with small seedless fruits. The best-known varieties are the white oval (ak-kishmish) and black (kara-kishmish). In the USSR, kishmish is widely grown in the Central Asian repubics, Azerbaijan SSR, Kazakh SSR, and southern regions of the RSFSR. The ak-kishmish ripens in an average number of days and is highly productive (20–30 tons per hectare). The fruits, which are small, white, and seedless, are tasty and very sugary. They are dried (bindana, sabza, soiagi), used to make wine and vacuum-obtained must, and eaten fresh. Kara-kishmish is an early, heavy-producing variety (about 30 tons per hectare). The fruits, which are medium size, black, and oval, have a juicy and meaty pulp; the seeds are not fully developed. Kara-kishmish is used dry (shigani), for wine-making, and in fresh form. The fruits of similar sun-dried grape varieties are also called kishmish.

Kishmish contains (in percent of dry substance) 76–78 percent sugar, 2.1 percent nitrogenous substances, and 2.1 percent acid. The yield of dried kishmish is 24–30 percent of the fruit mass.