A City Shaped by the Hazelnut

To understand Giresun you first have to look at its slopes. Every incline rising from the sea is covered in hazelnut groves, and that landscape is no accident; the city's architecture, its trade and its calendar all come from this single crop. Hazelnuts have grown here for centuries, but the real transformation came in the 19th century as exports grew. The value of the cargo leaving the harbour for Europe returned to the town, and the stone mansions you see today in the Zeytinlik quarter were built then. The houses of Greek and Turkish merchant families tell the wealth of the period through their facades and interior plans. Walking the narrow lanes of the quarter, you are in fact walking through the economic history of a crop. The calendar is set by the hazelnut too. August is the harvest and the slopes come alive; picking is still largely done by hand and seasonal workers arrive in the region. The crop is dried first in the groves, then on the concrete in front of the houses. Hazelnuts spread by the roadside is the most familiar sight of August and September in Giresun. The crop itself is not uniform. The round hazelnut of Giresun carries a geographical indication and counts as a category of its own for its oil content and aroma, particularly sought after in the chocolate industry. Asking which variety you are buying in the producers' shops in town makes a difference. It appears in the kitchen as well. Hazelnut helva, hazelnut buns and hazelnut paste are the staples of local shops. But here the hazelnut is not a souvenir, it is a living; the best introduction is less a shop than a walk past a grove. While visiting: come in August and you will see the harvest, though the village roads will be busy with tractors. Inland valleys such as Yağlıdere show most clearly how the groves are terraced. The Giresun Museum displays documents on the hazelnut trade, and starting there is a good way to understand the town.