DESSERT WEEK 1: Pears "dessert-spoon" sweet in saffron syrup

Another idea for a traditional "dessert spoon" sweet to keep in your jars for the whole Winter and serve it as it is (in the classic Greek way) or to decorate with it various other desserts. The ingredients are not too many and the method is the classic one for such kind of preserves. Try to choose the pears having in mind to be ripe but firm and more or less in the same size. As for the variety it is up to you and what you can find abroad. In Greece we have one called "Crystallia" which they are firm and crispy and they hold nicely while cooking so not to lose their shape. The saffron used in this version is optional but in my opinion it does give to the dessert extra flavour and of course this beautiful colour

Easy homemade fig jam scented with cinnamon and red wine

A very tasty and aromatic jam to enjoy through the Winter months with the red wine giving extra flavour without dominating the taste of the figs

Homemade spicy grapes jam

The time to prepare our pantry for the upcoming Winter months is here and making jams is one of the most common things around the world's kitchens! The grapes are in season and here we have a special recipe which gets a bit out of the ordinary. It's not so much the amount of the ingredients or the procedure that makes it different but the kind of the ingredients that are used (beside the grapes). Lets say that the recipe doesn't exactly follow the traditional path regarding the ingredients which, in the end, will give this extra twist to this jam. Take a look and you'll see what I mean

Homemade mandarin marmalade

Now that these super fruits are still in season take advantage and make your marmalade (I don't call it jam since it is a citrus fruit) to enjoy at your breakfast or to use as a filling or spread on other desserts. I strongly recommend to use the authentic mandarins and not clementines or satsumas. There is no comparison between the three!! Mandarins are the real McCoy in this case and so you will not need to add any spices or vanilla to enrich the taste and the aroma!

Traditional Greek quince jelly

Quinces are here again! Ugly and rough in looks, bitter and stiff in taste it is hard to believe how very versatile this fruit is! It can be used in so many different sweet and savoury recipes which makes it quite popular in Greece. Here, seasonal quinces become a shiny and smooth jelly to enjoy with your breakfast and other meals

Fresh figs and prunes jam

Easy and delicious, as most jams are, this is the ideal seasonal preserve to use for your breakfast, on/in cakes, on yoghurt, pancakes etc. The combination of figs and prunes, both fresh, is really nice! I have to warn you that the skin of the figs doesn't mash so easily. If you don't like the idea then you can always peel the figs before using them. Also, be careful with the sugar, both these fruits are quite sweet by nature so you don't want to overload the jam with sugar

Home prepared dried apricots for the Winter

This velvety, fragrant and delicious fruit is still in season so why not prepare your own dried apricots at home? It's so easy to do and while the sun still shines you should take advantage and try it out!

 

May's rose petals "dessert-spoon" sweet

At last!! May is here!! Spring is my favourite season for a lot of reasons. One of them is that fragrant, colourful and delicious fruits and vegetables are back in season giving us the chance to enjoy them in so many savoury and sweet recipes. But, beside the veg and fruits, Spring-time flowers are back in season too and one of these can become one of the most fragrant and tasty sweets. May's roses can give us the right petals to use them for this traditional "dessert-spoon" sweet and mark my words it will not disappoint you or your guests! My mother, among other "dessert-spoon" sweets, used to make rose petals too for years. In those days most neighbourhoods still had houses with beautiful gardens and it was easier to find those gorgeous roses - the so called"one-hundred petals" variety - which were the appropriate for this sweet. Unfortunately nowadays in big cities like Athens not many houses have left and even fewer gardens are around...

Cinnamon flavoured easy carrot jam

It's not many years since I first discovered how tasty carrot jam can be. A friend made some and offered me a small jar to taste it. It is an easy recipe to follow and of course because of the availability of the carrots it is a jam that you can have any time of the year without needing to fill a lot of jars and overload your fridge or your cupboards

Jam with dried apricots and raisins

A nice alternative for an apricot jam when they are not in season. The addition of the orange and the nutmeg give an extra flavour and aroma

Spicy peach jam

This recipe is rich in taste and aroma with juicy fresh peaches and all those spices which are common but so popular in Greek cuisine. Adding cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in this version will make you think again before you call the peach jam ordinary or boring

Tomatoes spoon sweet

Yes! Even the tomatoes can become a spoon sweet in Greece!! It is a traditional recipe from the Islands and it is ideal with vanilla ice cream or yoghurt

Watermelon Spoon Sweet

In Greece when it comes to spoon sweets (and other things in Greek cuisine) we almost don't waste anything!- anything that has even the slightest possibility to become a nice preserve gets into a large saucepan! The watermelon rind (because that's the part we use for this spoon sweet) if it's made properly can be so tasty and crunchy and aromatic! It's one of those spoon sweets that needs the pickling lime I was telling you about in the relative article, but it is not easy to find it nowadays so better to skip that step instead by using the quick lime. It will not be as crunchy but it won't lose anything in taste

Sour cherries spoon sweet

The sour cherries is another very common spoon sweet in Greece. It needs some patience to prepare it- mainly because of the pitting... It is related to the wild cherries but their difference is that the sour ones are more acidic so they are mainly suitable for cooking. A delicacy we use to prepare out of the sour cherries is the "Vyssinada" soft drink ("vyssino" is the Greek word for sour cherries). It's nothing more than the juices out of the cherries and then by a certain procedure, it becomes a thick dark red syrup, or using some of the syrup the spoon sweet has and then dilluting it into cold water. A nice, cool and healthy drink for the hot Summer days

Apricots Spoon Sweet

The aromatic and tasty apricots can be a special Summer spoon sweet. With a few exceptions the procedure of the spoon sweets is the same for all the fruits. Some they need more sugar than others or some extra pectine etc The main thing is that you need a good quality of fruits and in this case ripe but firm apricots. The apricot spoon sweet is one of those that in the past they used to soak them in pickling lime but the version I give you today is the classic one without any

Strawberries Spoon Sweet

After that huge article about the Greek "Spoon Sweets" it's time to give you some of the nicest recipes related to them. Lets start with the tasty strawberries and soon you'll get more of that

Baby eggplants Spoon Sweet

When you were reading the relative article probably you got surprised when I mentioned that we use even vegetables to make Spoon Sweets!!! I don't blame you because it does sound unusual- still though we do use some vegetables and the taste is very interesting. Here we have the baby eggplant as the prime material for this spoon sweet and believe me it is worth the effort

Carrot Spoon Sweet with almonds

I told you.... didn't I? that we use almost everything in the fruit and vegetable kingdom when it comes to the spoon sweets and jams.... Well here is another example of this (good) obesession of ours. Such a common (and quite boring to many) vegetable which can be transformed into a very tasty spoon sweet

Greek "dessert spoon sweets"

Just after Spring comes the housewifes start planning of making this year's jams and fruit preserves or "Spoon Sweets" as we call them. Spoon sweets (Glyka tou koutaliou) are a big part of the Greek cuisine and in many ways are equal to the meaning of "Greek hospitality". They are traditional sweet preserves made of various fruits and even vegetables. They are very sweet because of the syrup they are preserved in and that's why we serve them as a couple of spoonfuls- usually on a small china or crystal bowl/dish using a spoon of the size of the (English) tea-spoon (so to have an idea what kind of spoon we are talking about). The right way to accompany them with is a glass of cold water. Often, though, you will see them as a topping on Greek yoghurt or vanilla ice cream or kaimaki ice cream (another special delicacy).

Unfortunately at some point the "spoon sweets" have started not being so popular any more. I mean, people still liked them but they didn't consider them as a special treat for their guests as they used to do in the past, so the traditional recipes had started disappearing, at least in the big cities. On the other hand the modern day housewives could not really get bothered or they didn't have enough spare time to prepare their own "spoon sweets" and they prefered to buy them at the market- which is something that you would not even imagine happening in the past and to be honest I don't think you could find them at all at the market. But the last few years I see that more and more housewives go back to the traditional way of making them at home and they actually find them quiet trendy!!!...

"Spoon sweets" can be made of almost everything and I'm not exaggerating.
You can use the peel of oranges, bitter oranges, quinces, grapefruit, frapa (=citrus maxima) a sour/bitter fruit similar to grapefruit but bigger, the bergamot, lemons, tangerines and mandarins....
Even the watermelon rind!! In other words many fruits or parts of them which normally are not edible.

Various types of seedless grapes and berries, cherries and sour cherries, apricots, figs, prunes. Flower petals like roses or citrus blossoms. Various types of nuts like the walnuts when they are still unripe with their green skin on.... As for the vegetables... the baby eggplant is a good example.

One of their main purposes is to capture the essence of a particular season. Here are some examples:

Spring
Unripe (immature) whole walnuts with their green skin on (still soft)
Immature pistachios (unsalted) - A specialty of the pistachio-producing island of Aegina.

Summer
Rose petals - Typically from Chios island and the Peloponnese area
Watermelon, made from the rind of the young fruits
Sour cherries
Cherries
Apricots, the fruit in whole 
Small tomatoes
Immature figs, when still small and green

Late Summer
Various types of seedless grapes
Raisin, traditional to Crete
Baby eggplants
Ripe figs

Fall
Quinces
Firiki, a small type of apple originated and a specialty of Mt. Pilio
Pumpkin, a specialty of Naoussa (up North Greece)

Winter
Bitter oranges, preserved whole when immature and in pieces of rind when ripe.
Oranges
Bergamot
Kumquat, originated (in Greece) and a specialty of Corfu

The "spoon sweets" are made by slowly and gently boiling in water and sugar over several hours or (in some cases) even days, until the syrup sets. The traditional saying about what it takes to make a really good spoon sweet is "patience and a heavy pot"....  Some lemon juice is often added to preserve the fruit's original color, as the citric acid prevents oxidation. A small quantity of blanched almonds, slivered or whole, are often added for crunch, especially in fruits like apples, quinces and grapes.

The overall method of preparation is really the same as that of marmalade or jam, except that the fruit pieces remain firm and whole; a well-made spoon sweet holds the original shape, color, aroma and taste of the fruit.

For years and years they used to use pickling lime to make some of the "spoon sweets"!!!!!!!!! My mother, actually, she kept doing it this way up to a few years ago especially when she wanted to turn the watermelon rind into a "spoon sweet". It was not easy to find it though so they would compromise by going to building sites and ask for some "quicklime for the watermelon...." and the builders knew immediately what they meant... amazing is it not???

You see, the quicklime helps the fruits or the vegetables meant to become "spoon sweets" to be crunchier and hold their shape during and after boiling. The watermelon rind is a good example and also the whole apricots and the sweet and sour cherries. They would dissolve 1 cup of quicklime in about 2 litres of water and then soak the fruits in this water for a few hours or overnight. Next day they would wash the fruits very well and continuing with the rest of the procedure.

For those who don't know, they must be warned that quicklime can be dangerous and if they decide to use it they have to be very very careful. So, in my opinion, always is better to use the pickling lime if you can find it otherwise maybe it is wiser to skip this step of soaking the fruits in this liquid and proceed as normal.
I found out last year that my mother didn't get bothered to find any quicklime for her watermelon rind and she still had the same success.

One classic Greek "spoon sweet" (and my personal favourite) is the snow-white, sugar rich and intensely aromatic "vanilla submarine" as we call it and there is a good reason for its name!!!!!! It is a confection flavoured with vanilla (the classic flavour) but you can find it with other flavours like the pistachios or the mastic (a rare tree growing exclusively in the Aegean island of Chios) and it looks like a thick paste. This delicious "spoon sweet" is served as a generous dollop on a teaspoon and then dived into a tall glass full of ice-cold water and because of that it has the nickname "submarine"....

The Greeks from Asia Minor made it famous and brought it to the mother land. For decades it was the favourite sweet treat of the children and you can still find it at the market and at traditional "Kafenia" (Cafés)..