Anzer Balı

Anzer Balı is flower honey from the alpine Anzer plateau in the İkizdere district of Rize province, north-eastern Türkiye. The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office registered it on 16 February 2021 as designation of origin No. 676; the application was filed in 2019 by the Rize provincial directorate of agriculture and forestry.

The honey comes from a U-shaped valley about 13 km long and 4–9.5 km wide, at 1,750 to 3,150 m, around the villages of Ballıköy and Çiçekli. Ranges above 3,000 m enclose it on three sides, and the vegetation is alpine, with endemic species. Anzer Balı is sold as extracted honey.

Under the specification, legume pollen dominates; daisy family, forget-me-not (Myosotis), grasses, rose, geranium and mint families are present, but there must be no pollen of sweet chestnut or Pontic rhododendron. Forget-me-not may reach 15 % and moisture stays below 20 %. In the cold the honey crystallises to a creamy state.

Caucasian bees and their crosses are used; beekeepers move onto the plateau between 20 May and 30 June, and capacity is about 3,000 hives. An inspection body sets the harvest date in the second week of July, and pollen is checked by the bee research centre of Hacettepe University.

Why this matters to you. Genuine Anzer Balı is packed in glass jars of 100 to 1,000 g with the designation-of-origin emblem and a heat-sealed band on the lid, the signs that set it apart from imitations.