What to Eat in Gumushane: Local Specialities

By All Over InformationUpdated August 10, 20268 min read

Gumushane is a highland province of northeastern Turkey, and its kitchen is the kitchen of the mountains: dairy from the high pastures, honey from the highland flowers, trout from the cold streams, and the famous mulberry sweets that have made the region’s name across the country. The food is simple, seasonal, and tied to the land, and much of it is made by hand in village kitchens. This guide covers the dishes and products that define Gumushane, and where to find them.

The Highland Table: What Shapes Gumushane’s Food

Gumushane’s food begins with its geography. The province sits high between the Black Sea coast and the eastern Anatolian plateau, in a country of forested valleys and open highlands. The kitchen uses what the altitude allows: dairy herds on the pastures, orchards in the valleys, honey from the mountain flowers, and grain from the fields.

The seasons set the rhythm. Summer is the season of the yayla, when the herds move up and the dairy food is at its richest; late summer brings the mulberry harvest and the making of pestil and kome; autumn is honey time; and winter is the season of stored foods, soups, and the preserved products of the summer.

For the visitor, this means a table that changes through the year and rewards eating with the season. The food is not complicated, but it is honest, and its quality comes from ingredients raised within sight of your table.

Pestil and Kome: The Mulberry Sweets

The pride of Gumushane’s table is the pair of sweets made from its mulberries: pestil, the thin, chewy sheets of dried fruit paste, and kome, the classic rolls of walnuts bound in the same dark mulberry paste. Together they are the taste most people associate with this province.

The making of pestil and kome is a seasonal craft. The mulberries are cooked down into a thick paste, spread into sheets and dried in the sun to make pestil, or wrapped around strings of walnuts and dried to make kome. The result is intensely fruity, deep and dark, nothing like factory candy.

These sweets appear everywhere: in the markets, the shops, and the kitchens of the province. They are eaten as snacks, served with tea, and given as gifts, and they are the souvenir that every visitor carries home. Taste them fresh if you can, straight from the drying racks.

Gumushane, Turkey — Photo by Fotografikarabulut on Pixabay

The Mulberry and the Orchards

At the heart of Gumushane’s sweet tradition is the mulberry itself. The region’s orchards grow a dark, fragrant mulberry that is harvested in the late summer, and the fruit is so central to local life that the whole sweet-making calendar revolves around it.

The fresh fruit is eaten by the handful in season, but most of the harvest goes into the region’s products: pestil, kome, pekmez, the thick syrup of boiled fruit, and the jams and preserves of the highland kitchens. The flavor is unmistakable, deep and wine-like, and it carries the character of the mountain orchards.

For visitors, the mulberry season is the best time to see the region at work. The drying racks of the villages fill with sheets of fruit paste, and the air smells of the harvest. If you cannot visit in season, the products of the orchards are available all year, and they capture the taste of the summer.

Honey and the Highland Pastures

The highlands of Gumushane are honey country, and the province’s honey is among the finest of the region. The pastures and forests give the bees a rich mix of flowers, and the honey is thick, aromatic, and full of the character of the high-altitude meadows.

Honey is central to the local table. It is eaten with kaymak at breakfast, stirred into herbal teas, and used in the region’s sweets and desserts. The different pastures give different honeys, and the beekeepers of the province are proud of the variety their mountains produce.

Buy honey from the markets or directly from the villages, and ask about the flowers of the season. A jar of Gumushane honey carries the taste of the highland summer, and it is one of the best gifts the region has to offer.

Corn, Cheese, and the Kitchen Staples

The daily food of Gumushane rests on a few dependable staples. Corn, grown in the valleys, becomes the corn bread that accompanies every meal, and the fields and gardens give beans, potatoes, and greens that anchor the soups and stews of the highland kitchen.

Dairy food is the other pillar. The herds of the highlands provide the milk for the cheese, butter, and kaymak of the region, and the cheese of the high pastures, fresh and mild in summer and aged for winter, is among the best of the northeast. The breakfast table shows this abundance at its best.

The cooking is plain and generous: soups, stews, and dishes built on beans and grain, served with bread and cheese and finished with honey. It is food for people who work in the open air, and it satisfies in a way that complicated cooking rarely does.

Siron and the Noodle Dishes

In the villages of the Siran country, the local kitchen has its own specialty in the noodle family: siron, a dish of thin sheets of dough served with yogurt and melted butter. It is a highland comfort food, made by hand, and it shows the skill of the region’s cooks with dough.

Siron is served warm, with the yogurt and butter melting into the sheets, and it is exactly the food for the cool evenings of the plateau. It appears on the tables of village homes and the simple restaurants of the district, and it is the dish to ask for in the Siran country.

Beyond siron, the noodle tradition of the region includes the hand-cut noodles and pastas of the highland kitchen, dried for storage and served with meat, yogurt, or tomato. These are the working foods of the province, and they are at their best in the home cooking of the villages.

Trout and the Mountain Streams

The rivers and streams of Gumushane run cold and clear, and they are full of trout. The fish is simple and prized, cooked whole over fire or fried in butter, and served with corn bread and salad. It is the taste of the mountain waters, and it is best eaten where the water is nearest.

The highland restaurants and village kitchens of the province serve trout through the summer, when the streams are at their liveliest. The fish is almost always fresh, caught locally, and the setting, with the sound of water outside the window, is part of the meal.

For the best experience, eat trout in the countryside rather than the city: by the streams of Torul, the rivers of the highlands, or the picnic spots of the valleys. It is simple food, but in the right place it is unforgettable.

Keskek and the Festival Table

The great communal dishes of Gumushane appear at the weddings, festivals, and gatherings that mark the year. The most important is keskek, a slowly cooked dish of wheat and meat that is pounded to a soft, creamy consistency and served in large trays to the whole company.

Keskek is a dish of patience and community. It is cooked for hours, often by a team of helpers, and the pounding of the wheat is a social ritual in itself. It is served with butter and sometimes with the cooking liquid, and it is the food of celebration across the region.

For visitors, the chance to taste keskek comes at the festivals and gatherings of the summer, especially the highland festivals of the Siran country. If you are lucky enough to be invited to share it, you are sharing the very heart of the region’s hospitality.

Where to Eat and What to Bring Home

Eating well in Gumushane means following the locals. In the city, the family restaurants serve the daily dishes of the province: soups, stews, noodles, and trout, alongside the sweets that the region is famous for. In the districts and highlands, the village kitchens and simple restaurants of the yayla offer the deepest taste of the local food.

The markets are the best introduction to the region’s products. The weekly market brings the villages down with honey, cheese, kaymak, fresh vegetables, and the pestil and kome that the province is known for. Ask questions, taste what is offered, and buy from the people who made it.

For souvenirs, pestil and kome come first, followed by honey and the mulberry pekmez of the region. All of them travel well, and all of them carry the taste of the highlands. Bring home a little of Gumushane, and the province will follow you to the breakfast table.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most famous food of Gumushane?

The most famous foods of Gumushane are pestil and kome, the mulberry sweets made from the fruit of the region’s orchards. Pestil is a thin, chewy sheet of dried fruit paste, while kome is a roll of walnuts bound in the same dark mulberry paste. Both are made by hand in the late summer and are famous across Turkey. The province is also known for its highland honey and its mountain trout.

What is kome made of?

Kome is made from walnuts and mulberry paste. The mulberries are cooked down into a thick, dark paste, which is then spread around strings of walnuts and left to dry. The result is a firm roll with the sweetness of the fruit and the crunch of the walnuts, similar in idea to the walnut sweets of other regions but unique in its deep mulberry flavor. It is eaten in slices with tea and is the classic gift of Gumushane.

Where can I buy pestil and kome?

Pestil and kome are sold all over Gumushane. The markets and shops of the city stock them throughout the year, and in the late summer you can buy them even fresher in the villages, where they are made on the drying racks of the orchards. The weekly market is a good place to buy directly from the producers. Both keep well, so they are easy to carry home as souvenirs.

All Over Information

The All Over Information editorial team researches and writes practical English-language guides to Turkey. Facts are checked against official and local sources before publication, prices are published as dated ranges rather than quotes, and guides are revised when things change. We accept no sponsored posts, paid placements or paid links.