Vegetable Solution for Sugar in Baklava

With the motto "from Gaziantep to the World", the first and single baklava brand in Gaziantep granting a franchise, Fıstıkzade Baklava opened its 12nd concept store in Ataşehir, İstanbul. Fıstıkzade Baklava introduced a low-calorie diet baklava sweetened naturally with a stevia plant of South American origin for the baklava fans in İstanbul. One of the leading baklava brands of Gaziantep, Fıstıkzade opened its first branch in İstanbul in the district of Ataşehir with stevia baklava produced specially for diabetics in mind received huge attention from the invitees. Aiming to make baklava available for all over the world from its homeland, Fıstıkzade Baklava hosted AK Party Şırnak former deputy Abdullah Veli Seyda, TÜRKONFED Executive Board President Tarkan Kadooğlu, Gaziantep Foundations Federation Head Mehmet Güçtekin, Ziylan Group Management Board Member Aykut Büyükekşi and lots of invitees as well as Ataşehir residents. The world famous registered baklava of Gaziantep will become a breakthrough in the sector. In the opening where Stevia baklavas were served to the guests, Fıstıkzade Baklavaları General Coordinator Vedat Diri said that the diabetic patients are now going to be able to taste baklava at easy with baklava turning into a special delicacy. Diri commented that thanks to stevia also known as a sugar plant in South America, now they are able to produce low-calorie and healthy baklava, adding that Stevia Baklava is a product that came as a result of 6-month of R&D work. "We produce baklava in Gaziantep with traditional methods and the most natural materials. As a response to the demands coming from the diabetic patients, we had already started to work on producing baklava that may also be available to them. As a result of our investigation, we brought the Stevia plant which is used by the South Americans to regulate the blood sugar to our city. We worked on adapting this plant acting as a natural sweetener into the original Gaziantep baklava. With this plant on which our food engineers carried out R&D work for 6 months, we tried to acquire the taste we were hoping for. As a result of long term work, first of all, the calorie of flour and butter went to zero and then the calorie of baklava coming from sugar went to zero as the beet sugar was replaced by Stevia using a special formulation. We got the reports of this product that we introduced to the market combined with Stevia today." BAKLAVA BECOMES A PRODUCT OF EXPORT Diri says that since the first day they were founded in Gaziantep, their main goal has been to make the unique taste of baklava available throughout all the world and adds: "We constantly carry on our work with R&D. We were able to increase the shelf life of this product to up to one year via a cold chain and special food preservation techniques. Thanks to these scientific methods, the original Gaziantep baklava produced without compromising the quality has now a healthy structure which is now easily available to the farthest regions of the world. We are now aiming to transform Gaziantep which represents Turkey in the UNESCO Creative Cities network in the gastronomy branch into an important export center with its EU registered baklava". "PEOPLE IN ISTANBUL WILL LOVE THİS BAKLAVA" Emphasizing again that they want to introduce the unique flavors of Fıstıkzade to people in İstanbul and have them get enough of baklava, Fıstıkzade Ataşehir Branch runner Nilüfer Özyıldırım says that they are pleased to present the famous Gaziantep baklavas at a level of freshness and quality anyone can enjoy in Ataşehir, İstanbul. Özyıldırım adds that the feedbacks for the baklava specially prepared with the Stevia plant for diabetics are very good and satisfying. "THE

GOAL IS 10 NEW BRANCHES IN ISTANBUL"

Commenting that they started their journey with the goal of introducing the traditional Gaziantep baklava to people in İstanbul and they took the first step by opening a branch in Ataşehir, Fıstıkzade Baklavaları İstanbul Master Franchisor İlyas Özyıldırım says that by the end of 2016, they aim to open branches in 10 different locations. ABOUT THE STEVIA PLANT One of the plants that involves diabetics the most, Stevia grows in South America. Thanks to the glycosides found in Stevia leaves that sound sweeter than the saccharose, it has been used as a sweetener in this continent for centuries. Today, Stevia started to replace synthetic sweeteners in many of the developed countries in the world and be defined as safe by the health authorities. When consumed like glicose and other artificial sweeteners, stevia does not cause an insulin release and regulates the blood sugar. Stevia is used in today's food sector in the making of pastry and desserts, as it does not lose its properties at temperatures as high as 200 degree.