Turkey issues standards for baklava


The Turkish Standards Institute, in a statement released on Thursday, has introduced standards for Turkish baklava – one of the most popular sweets in Turkey.According to the new standard for baklava, the dough for the pastry should contain flour, salt, water, the tiniest amount of butter and white sugar. It should be a golden brown color once out of the oven with hot syrup consisting of castor sugar, water and lemon juice poured over the oven-baked product. Each piece must be a no smaller than 35 millimeters in size.The institute said that the origin of the word "baklava" is Turkish, as it was called "baklagu" or "baklagi" in the old Turkish.In 2013, Gaziantep baklava became the first-ever Turkish product registered in the European Commission list of protected designations of origins and protected geographical indications, a list that aims to promote and protect the names of quality agricultural products. Gaziantep baklava also became the 16th non-EU food to receive this status.