Following this publication, the authorities of a Member State or of a third country, or a natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and established or resident in a third country, may lodge, in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) an opposition with the Commission within three months from the date of this publication.

The product specification referred to in Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 is available in the Union register of geographical indications.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’

EU No: PGI-TR-02808 – 22.10.2021

PDO ( ) PGI (x)

1.   Name(s)

Bursa Kestane Şekeri

2.   Member State or Third Country

Türkiye

3.   Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1.   Type of product

Class 2.3. Bread, pastry, cakes, confectionery, biscuits and other baker’s wares

Combined nomenclature code

—	1905 - Bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits and other bakers' wares, whether or not containing cocoa; communion wafers, empty cachets of a kind suitable for pharmaceutical use, sealing wafers, rice paper and similar products

3.2.   Description of product to which the name in (1) applies

‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ is a confectionery which is obtained by peeling chestnut fruit and cooking them in syrup. The colour of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ is amber and yellowish. It should not have too dark colour or be caramelized. ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ may be placed on the market in four sizes according to the weight of the fruit: small 8-10 g, medium 10-14 g, large 14-20 g, extra-large 22 g and above. It can be packaged with or without syrup. Chestnuts with an outer shell ratio of 25 % or less by weight are used. The fruit ratio in ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ packaged without syrup must be at least 63-71 % and the fruit ratio in ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ packaged with syrup must be at least 60 %. The pH value of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ is between 5 and 5,8.

Chestnuts used for ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ should have a cream color. The flavor of chestnuts used for ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ should not be sour, sourish or astringent. ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ should not have a sour, bitter, metallic or excessively burnt taste or astringency. ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ may have a sweetened, smooth caramel, honey, butter cream, woodsy, roasted coffee and sugared vanilla taste.

3.3.   Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

Ingredients of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’:

Chestnut: They shall be easily peelable and have a thin shell. The fruit outer shell ratio must be 25 % by weight or below. The colour of the fruit shell should not be too dark. Decayed, wormy, frost-burned or dark chestnuts, and those unsuitable for calibration, shall not be used. Chestnuts between 4 and 7 g are small, between 7 and 10 g are medium, between 10 and 15 g are large, and 15 g and above are very large. Suitable sized chestnuts for ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ are medium and large. Chestnuts broken during production are also evaluated and packaged separately as broken chestnuts.

Sugar: White crystalline sugar (sucrose) is used.

Water: Process water (purified, softened and ultraviolet-treated water) is used.

3.4.   Specific steps in production that must take place in the identified geographical area

All steps in production (peeling, shelling, sizing, grading, boiling, preparing syrup and cooking in syrup) must take place in the defined geographical area.

3.5.   Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product the registered name refers to

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3.6.   Specific rules concerning labelling of the product the registered name refers to

Sticking labels containing the words ‘Protected Geographical Indication’ and ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ on the visible side of the packaging.

The label must identify the candied chestnuts as small between 8 and 10 g, medium between 10 and 14 g, large between 14 and 20 g and extra-large at 22 g and above and indicating this information on the package.

The label must identify which version of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ it contains (with or without syrup).

4.   Concise definition of the geographical area

The geographical area for the production/processing of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ is confined to Bursa province located in the south of the Marmara region of Turkey.

5.   Link with the geographical area

The link between ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ and its geographical area is based on the product reputation and also the production skills required for ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’.

‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ is a confectionery which is obtained by peeling chestnut fruit and cooking them in syrup. The colour of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ is amber and yellowish. It should not have too dark colour or be caramelized. Hence cooking it in syrup requires master skills. These skills are acquired after a certain level of experience is reached under the watch of a master. The production skills have been transferred from one generation to the next based on master-apprenticeship relationships.

There are documents dating back to 15th century Islamic records indicating the presence of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ making (at that time only candied chestnuts were used) in the Ottoman palace (‘Notes about the sweets and confectioners of the Ottoman palace’ by Zeynel Özlü, Year 2011, Issue 58, 171 - 190, 08.06.2011).

As of the beginning of the 1900s in Bursa, ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ started to be produced in the famous Şekerciler Bazaar. It is known from written sources that in 1928, Ulus Patisserie sent ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, and that the delegations from Ankara to Bursa at that time took ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ with them on their return.

In the ‘Dictionary of Ottoman Cuisine (2010 Edition)’ prepared by Priscilla Mary Işın, the expression ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ is mentioned on page 208: ‘For “Bursa Kestane Şekeri”, the chestnuts, whose outer shell and inner shell are peeled, are boiled in syrup again and again to absorb the sugar. Bursa chestnut is the most suitable type for Bursa Kestane Şekeri’.

Due to the development of the confectionery craft in Bursa, ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ production has been carried out with great skill for many years.

Bursa has been the production centre of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ for many years and the product’s history goes back to ancient times. The ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ have an important place in cuisine culture, traditional practices and rituals performed in daily life in Bursa. The ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ are offered to guests on special occasions and visits, since they are a light, delicious and very valuable fruit dessert. When traveling to another place from Bursa, ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ are the first thing people think of and are known as a flavor that brings to mind Bursa on the palate. ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ stand out as the brand product of Bursa in all the books, articles, research and documentary studies prepared about Bursa cuisine. Visuals and written documents about ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ obtained in Bursa popular culture field research conducted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism have been recorded in the name of Bursa in the Popular Culture Information and Document Centre (Popular Culture Archive) established under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, General Directorate of Research and Education. For this reason, ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ has a reputational connection with the geographical area. All production stages of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’, which has a reputational connection with Bursa province, are carried out within the defined geographical area.

Production of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ started with chestnuts grown in Bursa. The chestnuts that are grown in Bursa have been the subject of the works of travellers and historians in every period of history. The chestnuts have been widely used in winter food preparations, street food, daily meals, special occasion meals and desserts in the cuisine culture of Bursa from the past to the present.

Various sources also mention the Bursa chestnut. The size and taste of chestnuts grown in Bursa Uludağ Mountain are described in the travel books of travellers such as Ibn-i Batuta (14th century) and Evliya Çelebi (17th century). In a book entitled ‘Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi’nde Yemek Kültürü’ by Marianna Yerasimos, (2011 edition, page 196), it is stated that ‘according to Evliya Çelebi, Bursa’s forty varieties of pears, juicy grapes, apricots, cherries and large chestnuts weighing forty dirhams (125 gr) were the only ones in the world, and an interesting kebab was also made from this chestnut.’

The size and taste of chestnuts grown in Bursa are mentioned in a book entitled ‘Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyete Bursa Mutfağı-Cennet Sofrası’ by Ahmet Gedik and Zedal Kondakçi (page 5). It is also stated that the Bursa chestnut is the subject of the Karagöz-Hacivat play texts (2019 edition, page 10).

In the past, all of the chestnuts used in the production of ‘Bursa Kestane Şekeri’ were procured from the geographical area. However, due to increasing demand, chestnuts with the characteristics specified in the application and grown outside Bursa are also used.

Reference to publication of the specification

Official e-Bulletin of Turkish Patent and Trademark Office No 652 of 01.02.2021, page 36

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(1)  Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on geographical indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products, as well as traditional specialities guaranteed and optional quality terms for agricultural products, amending Regulations (EU) No 1308/2013, (EU) 2019/787 and (EU) 2019/1753 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 (OJ L, 2024/1143, 23.4.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1143/oj).