Greek Spoon Sweets: A Historic Gesture of Hospitality

Spoon saccharine made of quince. Credit: Gurman chef /Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

The delicious age-old contented successful Greece of offering “Spoon Sweets” to visitors goes mode backmost to the fourteenth period erstwhile the Byzantines adopted the customized from Arab traders. It was a contented arsenic aged arsenic clip successful the Arab satellite to service sweets to guests arsenic a motion of hospitality.

Spoon sweets are precisely what they dependable like: conscionable a spoonful of sweets. This contented inactive lives connected contiguous passim Greece and Cyprus. When idiosyncratic stops by your home, you connection them a portion and a “spoon sweet,” which is simply a spoonful of preserves made from nutritious fruits, served connected a spoon.

Today, the saccharine treats are commonly served with a cupful of Greek java oregon a solid of acold water, and the ingredients are overmuch the aforesaid arsenic they were hundreds of years ago. The delicious desserts are made from full fruit, effect pieces, nuts, purees, and adjacent histrion resin.

Spoon sweets made with sour cherry. Credit: /Wikimedia Commons/

Some favourite fruity sweets are prepared from citron, figs, oranges, and different fruits. You’ll travel crossed antithetic variations of the dainty arsenic you question passim Greece, and it isn’t adjacent uncommon to beryllium offered 1 portion visiting a cafe—especially successful villages—to travel your Greek coffee.

Ypovrichio: The unsocial Greek spoon sweet

However, 1 of the astir beloved and astir iconic spoon sweets that Greeks enjoy—both young and old—originates from the land of Chios and is produced from histrion resin. Greeks telephone it the “ypovrichio,” virtually “submarine” successful Greek, due to the fact that it is eaten portion submerged underwater successful a drinking glass.

Ypovrichio comes successful antithetic flavors, specified arsenic vanilla, oregon mastic—since it is made from mastic histrion resin, for which the land of Chios is famous.

Βανίλια "υποβρύχιο"…..
Το γλυκό της χαμένης αθωότητας!!! pic.twitter.com/jnTr6sZjU5

— Dimitris K. (@DKougk) August 16, 2020

And, however exactly, you whitethorn ask, bash you devour this sugary fondant? Ypovrichio is served simply connected a spoon which you dip into a solid of ice-cold water. Once your spoon is submerged successful the water, the resin begins to soften.

It gradually turns into a smooth, fondant-like dainty which you bask by licking the spoon…like a fondant lollipop lone with past roots! Sweet traditions specified arsenic these are conscionable different of the galore things which marque Greece unique.

Greek Loukoumia, oregon Turkish Delights

Greek loukoumia, oregon Turkish delights, besides clasp an important spot successful the satellite of Greek sweets. The delectable, brushed small squares of saccharine spirit coated successful powdered sweetener are an iconic awesome of Greece.

Made from the elemental ingredients of water, starch, and sugar, and flavored with iconic tastes of Greece similar rose, bergamot, and mastiha, loukoumia are casual to marque but hard to perfect.

Learn it’s fascinating past here.