The Hazelnuts
Turkish culture describes the nuts from the city of Giresun as the best.
Hazelnuts have been grown here since 300 BC. Tales tell about Eastern Roman knights
who took the trees with themselves to Europe.
Hazelnut loves Giresun, the Black Sea and the high mountains.
Just as we have done, as long as we can remember.
Hazel
Corylus Avellana
Hazelnut cultivation in Turkey dates back 2300 years. Turkey has exported hazelnuts to the world over the past 600 years.
Giresun located in the region is the most famous city with its highest quality hazelnuts. Good and big hazelnuts are always called "Giresun Hazelnuts" among the Turkish people.
We pick our hazelnuts from the trees in August, or from the ground in September, like most other Turkish farmers.
Hazelnut trees are a group of 3 to 15 thick stams that grow from the same root system on the ground.
“Earth is irreplaceable“
- ÖMER GUNDOGDU
The Region
By the Black Sea in Northeastern Turkey, mountains stretching up to almost 4000m in parallel to the coastline create the perfect environment for hazelnuts to grow. All moisture from the Black Sea gets trapped, creating a lot of rain, keeping the warmth and removing the need for irrigation.
Turkey is the largest producer of hazelnuts and accounts for 75% of world production.
Every year about one billion kilos of hazelnuts are exported, and a large proportion of these are mixed into hazelnut cream or chocolate products.
Hazelnuts are rich in protein, unsaturated fats, fibers and minerals. Among other things, they contain significant amounts of folic acid, phosphorus, magnesium, thiamine and last but not least vitamin E, a group of vitamins that have anti-oxidant effects. A handful of hazelnuts (about 30 gr) are enough to cover the body's daily needs of vitamin E.
The Harvest
Hazelnut tree grows up 3 to 5 meters, and blooms in February-March. The trees love shade, moist and nutritious soil.
When the tree blooms, the flowers are sensitive to frost, which is why the trees can not produce enough mature nuts in large parts of Europe.
Freshly picked hazelnuts are covered with green leaves around the shell. Like all other farmers, we put the these on a tarpaulin on the lawn next to our groves, in a 10-15 cm thick layer. When the leaves turn brown, we pick them up and put them in a machine: Patoz, that uses air to blow the leaves away. Then the nuts in shell are dried further for two weeks outside.
Hazelnut
The nuts must be stored in a dry environment. In the shell they can be stored for a few years as long as they are periodically taken out to fresh air, and the ventilation as well as pests are continuously controlled.
Before our deliveries we sort our hazelnuts according to size and roast those to be roasted. We pack the nuts in vacuum bags for longer shelf-life as kernels.
A well-developed core should be large and tasteful. First, the largest kernels from 13mm to 15 mm in size are filtered. 12-14 mm, 11-13 mm and 9-11 mm nuts follow them. The rest becomes "Pikola" nuts, chopped kernels, oil and flour.
Hazelnut shell is used as a heat source, much like firewood. It is actually the most important source of heat in the Black Sea region. 1 kilo roughly provides 3.5 KWh of energy.
Based on size, shape and quality, hazelnuts are classified in at least 10 different varieties. Tombul hazelnuts that come from Giresun have the highest fat content, best taste, high protein content and a good combination of different minerals. iron, and vitamin E, B1 and B2.
Giresun
All our nuts come from our own groves, one of them is the small village called "Arifli". It is located on a high mountain in Bulancak at about 300m altitude. All our nuts can be traced to the area
they were grown on.
Do you want to see where our city is located? Check out the map!