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Mouth watering… roses! Featured

The traditional spoon sweet of Agios Georgios Sykousis of Chios

 

Chios island, except of course for the natural Chios mastic, is also famous for the production of spoon sweets, small sweet treats consisting of one or two bites of fruit preserved in syrup and marmalades. This kind of sweets are made with very old traditional recipes, using sometimes unexpected materials. Except from fruits, flowers and vegetables are also very often used.

One of the most interesting sweets of Chios is the rose spoon sweet! A traditional sweet with incomparable aroma. Its soft but also crunchy texture is a pleasant taste surprise. The rose spoon treat is made from a special variety of roses, the May rose, also known as centifolia, which is bigger in size, with more petals than the usual roses and with a very intense aroma.

In the village of Agios Georgios Sykousis, one of the most interesting medieval Mastic villages of Chios, every May and beginning of June, the place smells of roses. The sweet smelling aroma, coming from the rose fields outside the village, diffuses in the air. The rose cultivation is one of the traditional cultivations of the village, except from the figs, “syka” in greek, that gave the village its name, “Sykousis”.

The collecting process takes place with great caution, early in the morning, so that the rose petals retain all the freshness and aroma. Then the women of the village sit at work at once, while the roses are still fresh and delicious. So this time of the year it is very common to see big joyful companies, sitting all around their big pans full of aromatic roses and working together with laughter and songs.

The Sykousis village supplies in a great percentage the local confectionaries with its special aromatic roses. You can find standardized jars of this uncommon sweet treat in the local tourist and grocery shops. Don’t forget to taste it, as its texture and aroma are really exceptional. It accompanies perfectly ice cream and yoghourt and can also be served spread on bread. The rose is extremely rich in C vitamin and has good effect on bowel function.

Another rather uncommon sweet treat of Chios is the lemon blossom, which is also made in the spring, from the flowers of the lemon trees! It is also extraordinary in taste and aroma!

 

 

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