Traditional Sweets

Traditional Quince spoon sweet from Volos. Spoon sweets are sweet preserves, served in a spoon as a gesture of hospitality in Greece.

One typically Greek spoon sweet is the snow-white and intensely aromatic vanilla which is not made of vanilla, but of mastic resin, for which the island of Chios is famous. This is usually served as a spoonful of sweet on a table spoon dropped into a tall glass of ice-cold water and popularly called a “vanilla submarine”. It is a thick, white, sweet paste made industrially by beating mastic resin with table sugar. When cold, it has the consistency of hard caramel candy: it is meant to be licked like a lollipop as, at body temperature, it gradually becomes softer and more chewable.