Hazelnut Drying Season in Trabzon
In the Arsin district of Trabzon, producers who bring their hazelnut harvests from the gardens to the Black Sea Coastal Road to dry them, spread their hazelnuts on the pavements by the roadside to dry them. The hazelnut drying process, which takes a long time at high altitudes, makes the work of the producers in the region quite intense.
From the manufacturers Leyla Ustaomer, stated that they start the hazelnut collection and drying process at the same time every year and drew attention to the difficulty of this work. Ustaömer said the following:
- “The garden work is over, now we are in the drying phase. This work is really laborious and difficult. When we cannot collect the hazelnuts, we have to hire daily workers. The money we pay to the daily workers is not covered by the income we get from the harvest.”
- “As in every year, we collected our hazelnuts on time this year as well. We plan to hit the hazelnuts on the thresher in a day or two. Our hazelnuts will be dry in 2-3 days.”
Another manufacturer Hakan SagirogluHe stated that they had to hire daily workers and that they chose this method to dry their hazelnuts. Sağıroğlu continued his words as follows:
- “We dry the hazelnuts we collect by spreading them here. After a day or two, they will be hit with a thresher. After the thresher process, the hazelnuts will be dried again and finally we will put them in sacks and put them away. “
- “This process is quite difficult. Cleaning the hazelnuts takes about one and a half weeks. There is also a two-week threshing period. For us, this process means a total of 1-1.5 months of intensive work. In addition, since our “The house is across the road, we can constantly check our hazelnuts. The most difficult part of this job is working under the sun.”
The hazelnut drying process is a challenging process both physically and financially, but it is carried out with great care to ensure that producers receive compensation for their labor.
