Kontoyiannis House Cyprus

Cyprus Food

Year after year thousands of visitors come to Cyprus. They all love Cypriot food and want to know how to cook some of the traditional dishes.

Love of food is what drives the Cypriots to be good cooks. Eating is a national pastime and a good excuse for a get together. In fact in some houses it is taken as an insult to refuse any form or food and drink when you visit. Food and cooking play an important role in most families and recipes are usually passed down from generation to generation.

Cypriots eat a lot of pulses doused in Olive Oil but their favourite is meat. Souvla and Souvlaki are the most popular served on every occasion even on picnics.

You can view our recipes here which include te following:

Cyprus "Gliko" or Sweet Preserves

There are many different kinds of Gliko, made will Seville oranges (Kitromilo), Pomelo (Thrapos), Walnuts (Karidaki), Figs (Siko), Apricots (Chrisomilo), Water Melon (karpouzi), Grapes (Stafili), Cherries (Kerazi) to name but a few.......

Olives, Oil etc

Olives and Olive Oil have been a staple for centuries in Cyprus

There are many things to do with olives. We have lots of olives in our orchard. If you come in the winter time you are welcome to come and see how they are picked and of course to help us pick them. We will then take you to the olive press to see how olive oil is produced.

We will soon be adding photos of our olive grove with olives and description of the process of picking olives and how the olive oil is produced.

We will also be adding some recipes on how to preserve olives and some nice recipes.

Ospria (Pulses)

Staple diet of all Cypriots. Growing up in the UK, I did not like to eat pulses but as I got older my tastes changed and I cannot do without them in my diet. I remember when I was a girl growing up in London, people used to joke about pulses, they claimed that only cattle ate them. Now that it has been proved that they are nutritionally good for you it is acceptable to eat them.

Ospira are usually cooked or served with lots of olive oil which accounts for the tough constitution of the traditional Cypriot. They are a must for the vegetarian table.

There are traditional vegetables used in the preparation of a lot of these Ospria dishes. These are the leaf vegetables which can be found in abundance in the fields of the countryside in late winter early spring. I will be adding more information and photos of these later on to the site. The local names for them are ‘lapsanes’, ‘similouthkia’, ‘trisadgies’, ‘moloshes’, ‘mangalous’ and ‘lahana’ to name but a few.

Dips and Sauces

No Cyprus Table is without these.

Served in the Traditional Meze as a starter, dips are usually made with lots of olive oil.

Jams, Marmalades and Sweet Preserves

Oranges are freely available in Cyprus. Seville oranges are used a lot in cooking, a popular recipe is 'zalatina' which consists of meat in brine which uses Seville oranges in the brine. Since this is a Jams and Sweet Preserves page, we will start with, Seville orange Marmalade, Seville Orange is also preserved as a whole or in slices as Gliko, we will be adding that later.

Sweets and Deserts

Cyprus Lokoumia (the Greek name) or Cyprus Delights (Turkish delight) and sugar almonds are a must when visiting Cyprus. The best Cyprus Lokoumia are the ones produced in the Yeroskipou region of Paphos.

Cyprus is also popular for its Soutjouko, Palouzze and Kkefteria which are made in the wine regions from grape juice.
.	A villager at the Festival of Palouzze in Arsos. This local vine grower grows ecological crops and makes ecological Soutjouko. He also sells Moustari or Epsimo (this is boiled grape juice and the basis of Soutjouko) which is served on toast much like honey
Soutjouko looks like candles and Kkefteria are just squares of dried grape juice mixture which is called Palouzze when cold.. Soutjouko is made by threading a piece of string with nuts and then dipping it in the hot grape juice mixture which is made from grape juice or Moustari (as the Cypriots call it, some also call it Epsimo) and flour. This is boiled in a large cauldron then threaded onto the nuts. The string of nuts is dipped in the grape mixture a few times depending on how thick the household likes it, then hung out to dry in the sun..
Palouzze is a lovely desert eaten hot or cold sprinkled with crushed almonds or walnuts. It can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days and is subsequently made into Kkefteria by cutting into squares of about 2-4 inches and dried in the sun. This picture was taken at the Festival of Palouzze in Arsos village which is held every October.
Soutjouko and Kkefteria go very well with a glass of Zivania
	Many families in the mountains like to make their own Soutjouko. Here is some hanging out to dry in the sun. It was taken in Lania Village in late September,

Cyprus Soups

As we know soups are very comforting and soothing on a cold winters day but are also used worldwide for their therapeutic qualities. I have added a few here that we eat in summer or winter. Don't forget Cyprus does not get all that cold!

Please be patient with me. I'm trying to build up a database of traditional Cyprus wines and traditional Cyprus recipes.

If you are interested to contribute any recipes or ideas I am always open to them.

If you need a specific Cyprus Recipe then just This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and I will see what I can do.

Last Updated ( Friday, 11 January 2008 )

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