Anzer Honey

DISTRIBUTION: West Asia: Turkey (Anzer Plateau)

SPECIES: Several hundred mountain species, including: Dog rose – Rosa canina / Blackthorn – Prunus spinosa / Blackberry – Rubus fruticosus / Rhododendron spp.: Rhododendron ponticum, Rhododendron luteum, Rhododendron caucasicum

INTENSITY ✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧

COLOUR: Light yellow

TEXTURE: Crystallized

SMELL / AROMA: Floral, mild

Anzer is a mountain plateau in northern Turkey, about 80 km from Rize, near the Black Sea. It has peaks of up to 3,100 meters, where forests usually reach 2,000 meters.

Anzer honey is protected by a cooperative of local producers and comes from a flora of hundreds of plant species (about 80 of which are endemic) that grow where forests no longer grow, so at fairly high altitudes.

It is one of Turkey’s most expensive honeys, with a reputation promoted by well-targeted marketing strategies, attributing countless curative properties. As with all honeys with such a reputation, it is hard to say how much of it is true and how much is just marketing.

Anzer honey is therefore a multifloral alpine meadow honey, harvested exclusively on the Anzer plateau and marketed under conditions strictly supervised by the beekeepers’ cooperative. It is light in colour, crystallizes slowly, coarsely and has a mild, floral smell and taste.