Balat Merkez Confectionery

A Place that Has Kept the Akide Candy (Traditional Hard Candy) Tradition Alive for 142 years

Desserts and confectionery, in addition to being an important element of Turkish cuisine, also have a special place in our social life. The Balat Merkez Confectionery is one of the few companies that still preserve akide candy (traditional hard candy), which is an important part of our cultural heritage. We talked to Savaş Cörüt, one of the operators of the Balat Merkez Confectionery, where they have been produced for exactly 142 years, about the history of Akide Candy, its importance in our culture and the stages in which it has been introduced to us after many years without losing anything of its essence.

Can we get to know you? We would like to hear from you about Balat Merkez Confectionery from yesterday to today.

In 1879 a businesswoman named Fatma, who belongs to a family from Bursa, opened Balat Merkez Confectionery. From that year on, she continues, later her children. In the next process, Salih Efendi and Mustafa Bey have been running the place for many years. Finally, I, Savaş Cörüt and my partner Mahmut Saklı have started the Balat Merkez Confectionary business in 2018 and its activities continue till now. Mr. Mahmut is also the founder of Sevda Gazozcusu (Soda Water Seller) and vice president of the Istanbul Cultural Ambassadors Association. I have been a distributor of various local food brands in Turkey for about 30 years. We wanted to build on that knowledge and experience with products that belong to our culture. We like to work on the values of Istanbul and Fatih. With these thoughts in mind, we settled on akide candy. We continue our work in this 142-year-old space to preserve this culture.

Akide Candy has a tradition and a history. Can you share that?

The Janissaries poured sugar and gave that sugar to the Sultan to declare their loyalty and affiliation to the Sultan, who took office during the change of Sultan during the Ottoman Empire. This sugar they offered signified a contract, a creed. If the sultan accepted the sugar poured by the janissaries and tasted it, it meant that they agreed. These days, when you go somewhere as a tradition, the gift of candy and chocolate is given. In fact, when we know the meaning of candy and explain that meaning to others, there is no need for another gift. In addition to preserving our culture, the importance of healthy, natural and organic nutrition increases day by day. If we don't eat naturally and maintain our culture in parallel, we could lose our generations with food and drink as well as ideas. All of our resources must be natural. We have a motto; Our sweets and ideas are additive-free.

WE ARE TRYING TO KEEP THE NATION AND OUR CULTURE TOGETHER

Our people over the age of 35-40 know candy and its place in our culture. We live in a beauty here that we love and that I think is unique to our Fatih and Balat. If you go to Istiklal Street, you can't walk with your family. However, grandfather, father and grandson can walk the streets of Fatih together. While this is very valuable, in my opinion, it is also a beautiful sight to behold. A large family, grandfather, grandmother, father, mother and their children can walk here hand in hand on weekends. For example, when he sees an akide candy shaped like a rooster, his own memories come alive. He tells those memories to his children and grandchildren. This is where people get nostalgic. We and the Balat traders in general are trying to preserve the integrity of our nation and culture.

Tell us, please, about the stage of akide candy production.

Our sensibility starts with our choice of sugar, we don't use sugar from every region. We never serve our guests something we don't eat here, I would like to emphasize that. Our productions remain traditional. We boil the sugar in copper cauldrons at 180 degrees, mix it with the flavors, pour it on the marble and conduct a cooling process. Then we cut with scissors and give them to our guests.

Are you improving your candy assortment? Can you tell us about your assortment?

There are 3 types of classic and essential akide candy. These; cinnamon, sesame and hazelnut. We've increased the assortment to 28. The first things that come to my mind are: mint, orange, lemon, mastic, mother-in-law (milk caramel), candied fruit, peach, kiwi, banana, rose, ginger, chocolate, coconut. Among them is our latest star, our "fun." Some people from the outside look moody and selfish. We can call it additive. However, when you get to know him better, he is very cheerful, upbeat, and pleasant. The akide candy has a transition from sour to sweet, which we called fun, inspired by that. It starts with green apple and continues with mixed fruit. Another of our unique flavors is "sad." Its story came up by accident. One day our master accidentally discovers a dough flavored with bergamot instead of green apple. He was very upset that there was no return. Our heart wouldn't allow our master's sadness, so we started producing it as "sad." We were able to combine the old with the new along with the product range we developed. Generation Z is now in incredible demand. You could say we've given the new generation the opportunity to consume akide candy (traditional hard candy). In addition to that, we also have Turkish delight, halva, seasonal sahlep, boza, Turkish coffee and herbal teas.

WE'RE TRYING TO BRING INNOCENCE FROM THE HISTORY OF AKIDE CANDY

Because I've worked in the food industry so far, we know the shortcomings of the manufacturing environment as a result of industry interference and some other protective food products on the product. We try to maintain the innocence of the akide candy story. We only use sugar beets as raw materials, with no additives in our products. Therefore, when you buy a packaged candy today, you will experience a reduction in the taste of the candy. However, you will not experience this in the original and naturally produced product. You can also safely consume our products.

Can akide candy be consumed in diet?

The ladies are a little dubious about it, but akide candy is a food that is easy for even diabetics to eat. Since we boil the sugar at 180 degrees, there are no more calories, the essence remains. When we offer tea to our visitors, we give akide candy instead of sugar cubes. Because we know the chemical factors of cube sugar, we actually make it clear when we ask them to try it with akide candy. You can have 2-3 cups of tea with akide candy. And with all-natural sweeteners. As it contains no chemicals, our products do not spoil. We warn you, take care of it well, do not let it get air. Accordingly, our packaging has a special protective function. You can consume it again and again, as long as you close your mouth.

You are working on sherbet, one of our traditional drinks, can you tell us about it?

A well-known extract of our sherbets is tamarind. We have our own mix that we often use with rosehip fruit. We have historians that we consult with on that. We're after Ottoman sherbet beyond the known. We're looking for those formulas. We will have many different flavors of sherbet. We'll be presenting our work on this subject to our customers soon.

What do you think of Fatih?

Fatih, the material and spiritual flagship of Istanbul. Balat has a large number of visitors, especially on weekends, from various areas. The biggest problem for our visitors is the narrow streets. Unfortunately, there are not many alternatives. Nevertheless, Our Mayor is making an active effort to create pedestrian-friendly streets in Fatih. We wish that this could be done on Balat as well, and we hope that it will contribute to the development of tourism in the region. I also consider our municipality's facade work on Golden Horn Shore to be very successful. Our region is often visited by local and foreign tourists. We host many famous names, from famous names from Turkey to Hollywood stars. We can say that thanks to the facade works, the Golden Horn Shores has become the pride of our region. I would like to thank Our Mayor for his work and wish him further success.