Anzer Honey Product Description and Distinguishing Features: Anzer Honey is a flower honey produced in a valley approximately 13 km long, ranging from an altitude of 1750 m to 3150 m, with the narrowest part being 4 km and the widest part 9.5 km, in the Anzer Plateau. It is presented to the consumer as filtered honey. As a separate and protected region, the Anzer Valley, forming a U-shaped valley, is surrounded by mountain ranges exceeding 3000 meters in height from the east, west, and south directions. This creates a natural ecosystem, differentiating it from surrounding areas in terms of climate, flora, and other natural features. These differences are reflected in the nectar and honey. The vegetation of the Anzer Plateau, which has rich plant diversity including endemic plants, is alpine. The distinctive feature of Anzer Honey produced in a natural ecosystem is the presence of dominant pollens from members of the Fabaceae family, including Asteraceae, Boraginaceae (Myosotis), Poaceae, Rosaceace, Geraniaceae, and Lamiaceae plant flower pollens, but the absolute absence of Castanea sativa and Rhododendron ponticium plant flower pollens. The fundamental distinguishing feature of Anzer Honey is the minor (3% - 15%) or rare (less than 3%) presence of Myosotis pollens. Anzer Honey's pollen count is not greater than 1,000,000 in TPS-10 and does not contain any added pollens. In the production of Anzer Honey, Caucasian and Caucasian hybrid bees are used due to their resistance to diseases, strength, ability to fly even in cold and foggy weather, and longer tongues compared to other bee breeds.Anzer Honey, which crystallizes into a creamy texture in cold environments, has a moisture content below 20%. The levels of sucrose, fructose, and glucose sugars, the sum of these sugars, proline, fructose/glucose ratio, insoluble matter content, free acidity value, electrical conductivity, diastase number, etc., meet the values specified in the Turkish Food Codex Honey Regulation. Production Method: For the production of Anzer Honey, beekeepers arriving in the region complete their accommodation procedures between May 20 and June 30. Accommodation requests made after this date are not considered, and checks on this matter are carried out by village councils, relevant cooperatives, law enforcement, and the İkizdere District Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry. To operate as itinerant beekeepers, beekeepers from outside the province must carry documents demonstrating colony presence along with a veterinary health report and a dispatch document obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's provincial/district directorates. Beekeepers from within the province should carry their operating permit and a list of colony presence. In order to comply with the obligation of registration in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Bee Registry System (AKS), Animal Information System (HBS), and Organic Farming Information System (OTBİS), itinerant beekeepers, whose movements are facilitated with these documents, have their coordinates recorded based on the apiaries where they produce, allowing them to access the Anzer Plateau. The geographical boundary has an approximate capacity of 3000 beehives. However, when determining hive capacity, hive numbers, and accommodation methods, controls are carried out by village councils and the İkizdere District Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry in accordance with the Beekeeping Regulation published in the Official Gazette on November 30, 2011. Beekeepers who meet the conditions of itinerant beekeeping stated in the Beekeeping Regulation, but are not members of any cooperatives in the region, can only stay for the remaining colony quota after cooperative members have stayed. Apiaries, consisting of commercial wooden hives made from needle-leaved forest trees, are placed at approximately 50 m intervals to achieve suitable honey quality. Climate conditions play a significant role in the time of Anzer Honey extraction. Excessive heat can cause the fading of flowers in the region and a decrease in pollen yield. Similarly, rain and fog in the region can slow down the work of bees. Therefore, the time of extraction is decided by considering the flower and pollen status. The extraction time is determined by the supervisory authority with a work to be done in the second week of July and announced to the producers. The same method is applied for determining the honey yield. In the traditional method of extraction, light smoking is done using bellows, and frames are taken from the honeycombs. After removing the wax with a wax knife or comb, the honey is filtered through honey extraction machines to separate wax and bee parts. After resting for 1-2 days, the filtered honey is delivered to the cooperatives by the producers for distribution. After all the honey is delivered to the cooperative, officials go to the cooperative for sample collection, and samples are taken in accordance with the regulations. The mouth of the sampled honey jars is properly labeled and left in safekeeping at the cooperatives. At least 2 samples are taken for the analysis of Anzer Honey, and in case of objections, second and other samples are used. Producers who are not members of any cooperative apply to the Rize Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry for sample collection after extraction. After the application, officials go to the producer for sample collection, and the samples are taken in accordance with the regulations. The mouth of the sampled honey jars is properly labeled and left in safekeeping with the producers. To ensure the homogeneous distribution of pollens in honey, the rested honeys are mixed, and samples are taken by the teams of the Food and Feed Branch Directorate of the Rize Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry in accordance with the regulations. The analysis fees for cooperative members are covered by the cooperatives they belong to, provided that they are later collected from the producers. For beekeepers who are not members of any cooperatives, the samples of the honey they produce are taken by the teams of the Rize Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, with the fees being covered by themselves. If requested, during the sample collection, a member from the respective cooperatives or the Rize Province Beekeepers Association can be present. The collected samples are sent to a laboratory accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for compliance with the Turkish Food Codex Honey Regulation and to Hacettepe University Bee and Bee Products Application and Research Center (HARÜM) for pollen analysis. After all the analysis results reach the Rize Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, honey that meets the conditions of Anzer Honey is harmonized by combining the honeys of the producers who are members of the same cooperative in the Rize Province Beekeepers Association Honey Filling Plant within a maximum of 15 days. The analysis fees for cooperative members are later collected from the producers. The filling of honeys from producers who are not cooperative members is done individually. During the filling of Anzer Honey, external honey entry to the Rize Province Beekeepers Association Honey Filling Plant is prohibited, and if requested during filling, individuals designated by the cooperatives can oversee the filling process. Annually, before May 15, beekeeping cooperatives operating in the Anzer Plateau notify in writing the Rize Province Beekeepers Association if an agreement has been reached regarding the use of a filling plant belonging to one of the cooperatives. In case there is no notification regarding the agreement, the filling is carried out in the filling plant belonging to the Rize Province Beekeepers Association. Honey is filled into 100g, 250g, 500g, and 1000g glass jars. After filling the jars, labels containing information such as the Anzer Honey label, geographical indication, and traditional product name emblem in compliance with the regulations, brand, producer information, etc., are applied to the jars. Plastic safety bands that prevent the opening of jar lids and are fixed with heat treatment are applied to make them ready for sale. If desired, the producer can take additional security measures to prevent the opening of jar lids. To prevent Anzer Honey from crystallizing into a creamy texture over time, the honey filling process is carried out once a month, taking into account the requests of the cooperatives. The filling date is determined as a batch number, and the number of jars filled in each batch is recorded according to weight. Honey filling requests are notified at least one week in advance to ensure the smooth execution of inspection works. Beekeepers move their hives to milder regions to survive the winter. In the early spring, before the honeycomb layers are added, bees are preferably fed with honey or sugar syrup (sucrose). No feeding is done after the honeycomb layer is added. After honey harvesting, winter preparations are made, and during this period, bees are fed using the same method. Hive cleaning is done in the spring using physical methods, and only the methods permitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry are used in disease and pest control.