Silk products are still sold at the Koza Han, but these are factory-produced rayons today. Forty thousand families in Turkey are currently engaged in silk production, supported by incentives from the Silk Worm Institute at Bursa.

FROM MULBERRY LEAF TO SILK
The production of pure silk is a painstaking process. The first signs of life appear in the seeds in spring when the mulberry trees begin to leaf. Following a 19-day incubation period, the caterpillars emerge. Only millimeters long, these tiny worms undergo four metamorphoses, becoming gradually larger and lighter in color every time they shed their skin. Following the fourth metamorphosis they reach eight centimeters. The worm, which is mature at the end of this 20-25-day period, stops eating and begins to weave his cocoon. Proceeding to the end of one of the branches, each of which has been specially prepared, he chooses a place to make his cocoon. These are actually the last days of the silkworm’s brief life. Twisting and turning, he begins weaving his cocoon with the silk he secretes.