The hazelnut was native to the Black Sea coast long before our era, not as a cultivated product but growing wild on trees or shrubs on the steep slopes of the mountains that are parallel to the coast for hundreds of kilometers from east to west. Historic documents reveal that hazelnuts have been grown along the Black Sea coast in northern Turkey since 300 B.C. Hazelnut farming has been the chief form of livelihood in the region for centuries-as it still is. It is estimated that more than 8 million inhabitans of Turkey depend directly upon the production, marketing or processing of this product. In Turkey, hazelnuts are cultivated in an area of about 550,000-600,000 ha.
Turkey is one of the few countries in the world having a favourable climate for hazelnut production.
The production area is spread densely all along the Black Sea coast. Hazelnut orchards extend up to 30 km in land. Although the production is greatly affected by climatic conditions, as are most agricultural products, hazelnut production in Turkey is showing an upward trend. The average annual hazelnut production during the past ten years in Turkey has been approximately 450,000 tons in-shell. Turkish hazelnuts usually ripen between early and late August depending on the altitude of the orchard and climatic conditions.