The production of spoon sweets goes back at least to the Middle Ages. Before the availability of sugar, the sweets were made with petimezi, heavily reduced grape juice. Petimezi is still in use in Greece, and in some places is still used to produce spoon sweets, adding its unique flavor to the sweet.
Spoon Sweets
GREEK SPOON SWEETS AKA “GLIKO TOU KOUTALIOU”
tasty treats to sweeten your day
Also called “glyka tou koutaliou” in Greece, spoon sweets are colorful preserves of fruits, nuts and even vegetables put up in sugar syrup. Age-old hallmarks of Greek hospitality, they were traditionally served in a spoon placed on a saucer along with a cold glass of water.
You will find a rich diversity of spoon sweets, from citrus fruits,quince and cherries, through unripe walnuts, pistachios and other nuts, to baby eggplant and tomatoes. You will also find local specialities, like tiny cherry tomatoes stuffed with almonds and flavored with cinnamon in Santorini, pistachio spoon sweets in Aegina, and lemon blossoms from the Island of Andros.
Spoon sweets are deliciously versatile products with applications far beyond dessert in the international kitchen. They pair particularly well with cheese and yoghurt.