Gaziantep Baklava and Pistachios

Antep baklava is made with pistachios grown on the plateau around the city, a small, dark, oily nut quite unlike the pale ones sold elsewhere, and the recipe is narrow: paper-thin yufka rolled by hand in dozens of layers, clarified butter, a syrup of sugar and water, and nothing else, no honey, no cinnamon, no other nut. It holds protected geographical status in the European Union as Antep Baklavasi. The city works the same pistachio into everything: katmer, a breakfast pastry of clotted cream and green nut baked to order, sobiyet, pistachio kunefe, and menengic, a milky drink ground from terebinth berries that is not really coffee at all.

What you actually see

• Fistikli baklava - the plain pistachio square, sold by weight and eaten the day it is made.
• Katmer - a breakfast pastry of clotted cream and green pistachio, baked to order.
• The pistachio itself - small, dark and oily, harvested on the plateau in September.
• Menengic - ground terebinth berry served milky and nutty, sold beside the coffee.

When to go

Year-round, though September brings the harvest and the freshest nuts. Katmer is strictly a morning thing and the shops that make it stop by midday. Gaziantep is very hot from June to September, so spring and autumn suit walking between the old town, the bazaars and the shops. Baklava is at its best within hours of baking.

Honest expectations

It is extremely sweet and extremely rich, and a serious portion defeats most people after a few pieces. Good baklava is expensive because pistachios are, and prices have climbed hard. It does not travel well, and by the third day the pastry has gone soft. Summer heat in the city is severe and shade in the bazaars is patchy.

Nearby

The Zeugma mosaic museum, the copper bazaar and the castle mound in the old town.