Zerde refers to Turkish sweet rice pudding made with saffron, one of the most expensive and richest spices; a Turkish saffron and rice dessert particularly from Balikesir where it cooked and prepared best. Zerde is a special pudding without milk like other puddings. It is made by boiling the rice in water and enriched with high amount of saffron and some gillyflower and sweetened by a special red sugar. It is said that Zerde somehow refreshes the body because of the amount of saffron used to make it.