Greek Cuisine Part 1. The Spoon Sweet

Summer in Greece has traditionally been the season of languidness, longing, vacation, crickets, sunshine and seaside. Also, the season of watermelons, peaches, kasseri cheese and spoon sweets.

Spoon sweets are very popular in the Balkans and the Middle East, and especially so in Greece. They are mainly fruit preserves, some of them quite what you would have expected them to be (grapes, apricots, sour cherries, oranges, kumquats) and others really surprising (rose petals, pistachios, tomatoes, and even eggplants!)

The name, spoon sweets or glyko tou koutaliou in Greek, comes from the traditional way of serving these preserves: a spoonful in a glass bowl or saucer, always accompanied by a glass of fresh, iced water and, in many cases, a cup of coffee.

A favorite for kids and adults alike, the spoon preserve, that used to be prepared by every mother and grandmother during spring and summer to keep all year round, has survived wars, expatriations, hard political times and the invasion of western foods and sweet treats.

One of the most unique spoon sweets is the tomato preserve. Made with elongated plum tomatoes, sugar, lemon juice and a couple more ingredients, it is sure to make you want to have it more than once. Beware, should you decide to follow the recipe and prepare this exquisite treat, that it takes a lot of patience to make it as it won't be ready to eat until the day after the next day!

INGREDIENTS

3 lbs of plum (elongated) tomatoes

3 lbs sugar (plus some extra sugar to sprinkle on the tomatoes)

2 tsp lemon juice

almonds (optional)

a tsp vanilla

Choose small plum tomatoes without many seeds. Bring a pan of water to a boil and drop the plum tomatoes in for a minute or two. Drain and peel them.

Place the tomatoes on a plate or tray in a single layer and sprinkle a good amount of sugar on them.

Leave for 24 hours. Keep the water that was left in the pan.

Next day, use the water that was left in the pan to sprinkle on top of the sugar (3 lbs).

Add one more cup of water and boil in a pan for 15 minutes until a thick syrup is formed. Put a peeled almond inside every tomato (optional) and drop the tomatoes into the syrup to boil for 2-3 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and leave the cooked tomatoes to stand in the syrup overnight. Next day, stir in the lemon juice and boil gently until the spoon sweet starts to set. Stir in the vanilla and let the preserve cool.

For best results, pack the preserve into sterilized jars. It will last longer. Store in a cool, dry place.

Enjoy!

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Sweets_of_the_Spoon