Famous delicacies of the Aegean Region

Stuffed Squash Blossoms (Kabak Çiçeği Dolması) in Muğla

Stuffed Squash Blossoms is a well-known and beloved dish in many places of the Aegean Türkiye. However, it is possible to say that Muğla is where this food is most made and loved.

Stuffet Squash Blossoms is made from squash blossoms collected in many corners of the Aegean, early in the morning before the sun rises.  These blossoms are usually collected in July. And it is important to collect them in the early hours of the morning. Because the blossoms need to be collected before they wear out due to the heat.

The blossoms, stuffed with a stuffing – which includes onion, tomato, rice, dill and mint – are cooked in virgin olive oil, obtained from the local olives.

Kumru and Boyoz in İzmir

Kumru is one of the local street foods of İzmir. Typically associated with Çeşme district, it is a toasted sandwich prepared with an artisanal bread enriched with chickpea flour.

The secret of its popularity is in its tasty and soft bread, specially produced by some local bakeries and restaurants with added chickpea sourdough.

Kumru consists of cheese, Turkish sausage called Sucuk, tomato, and is mainly served today with additional sausage and salami, small dishes of dill pickles with tomato ketchup and mayonnaise.

Boyoz is a Turkish pastry that was brought over to the country by Sephardic Jewish immigrants from Spain in the late 15^th century.

A traditional taste, boyoz is made of flour, sunflower oil and tahini. It is a simple, small, rounded pastry. Additional fillings like meat, cheese or spinach are also used. An essential part of breakfast, it is generally eaten beside a hard-boiled egg, sprinkled with salt and black pepper and a glass of strong Turkish tea.

Mesir Paste (Mesir Macunu) and Kırkağaç Watermelon (Kavun) in Manisa

Mesir Paste, a paste consisting of 41 kinds of herbs and spices is a traditional savour from Manisa cuisine. It is believed it has healing qualities.

On the other hand, you can participate in Mesir Paste Festival in Manisa. This festival commemorates the recovery of Hafsa Sultan, mother of Süleyman the Magnificent, who was cured of a disease by the invention of a paste known as Mesir Macunu in Turkish. The Sultan then ordered that the paste be disseminated to the public.

Kırkağaç melon, cultivated in Kırkağaç district of Manisa for 600 years, is the only melon in Türkiye that is registered as geographical indication.  

Fig and Olive in Aydın

Aydın, which deserves the saying “Oil flows from its mountains and honey from its highlands”, is a city generous in treating its guests with its local products grown in its fertile lands and plains.

Considered one of the best quality figs in the world, geographically marked Aydın figs are a delicious type of fig that can be consumed both fresh and dried depending on the season. It is possible to find products of dried figs presented in different forms in sales stores in the city centre and in local markets of Aydın. Fresh figs can be purchased from roadside farmers or local farmers’ markets during your trip to Aydın at the beginning of summer.

Olive, the symbol of the Mediterranean climate and civilization, is among the important agricultural products of Aydın. Olive has been an important element of human culture throughout history with its trees that live for many years, its benefits to human health, and being an important trade product. Local Aydın olives in different flavors and presentations with their delicious taste can be purchased from local producers and various stores in the city center.  

Additionally, Sultanhisar strawberries, which preserve their freshness from soil to table, and chestnuts grown in the green plateaus and mountain slopes of Aydın are among the original products.

Tavas Baklava in Denizli

Tavas Baklava is a dumpling with sherbet prepared with unique traditional ingredients and methods on all special occasions such as an engagement, wedding, and holidays. Making Tavas Baklava, which leaves an unforgettable taste on the palate with walnuts poured into each row of 40 layers of dough and sherbet, requires a special skill. What makes Tavas Baklava special is the ingredients and cooking technique used for it. Baklava doughs are rolled using special urga flour which is a mixture of wheat, whole meal, and barley flour. It is baked in a copper tray in a wood-burning oven called black ovens and oak for firewood for 25-30 minutes. To get the real taste of Tavas Baklava, it must rest for a day. It is recommended to eat the baklava, which is ready for service, without utensils.

Tarhana Soup in Uşak

Tarhana is one of the traditional fermented foods of Anatolia. Uşak Tarhana is one of the three types of tarhana registered with their uniqueness in Türkiye. Its distinctive feature is that its content is different, and it is fermented for 21 days. It is very nutritious, easy to digest and very healthy due to the protein, vitamins, and minerals it contains.

Tarhana, which has been kept for 21 days, consists of a wonderful combination of red and green peppers, flour, yoghurt, milk and optionally used beans or chickpeas.

Roasted chickpea (Leblebi) in Kütahya

Kütahya is famous for its Tavşanlı roasted chickpea. It is the final form of chickpeas resulting from a roasting process which goes through various stages. Tavşanlı Roasted Chickpeas are sold in shops in every corner of Kütahya. The following flavors of the chickpeas are roasted, sweet, white, crispy, salty, spicy, honey, poppy, sesame, chocolate, vanilla, clove, sauce, coffee, banana, orange flavored, cherry flavored and coconut flavored varieties.

Sausage (Sucuk) in Afyonkarahisar

Sausage, which is one of the meat products consumed by the Turks since Central Asia along with pastrami and roasting, is one of the most important tastes known with Afyonkarahisar. Afyon sausage, which is obtained from the meat of the animals that are carefully grown in the region, is one of the delicious tastes that visitors of the city taste at restaurants, and those who travel necessarily experience when they take a break in Afyon. Along with sausage, other meat products are among the most preferred products by visitors.