Greekcitytimes.com –Crete the biggest island of Greece is of course the first on the list. So many delicious local specialties!
What to taste:
-Dakos salad, made of hard bread (paximadi or rusks, lightly soaked in water so that they are softened), accompanied with tomato pieces, mizithra cheese and olive oil.
-Gamopilafo, the famous Cretan wedding rice. ‘Gamos’ in Greek means wedding and this kind of rice is served at Cretan weddings and at traditional taverns around the island.
-Kaltsounia, the sweet mini pies, served with honey or mini pies filled with cheese. They may seem similar to other cheese pies you could find around Greece, but taste them and you’ll see that these are unique!
-Also, Sfakianes pites, pies from Sfakia, a mountainous area in the southwestern part of the island. They may seem like the common pancakes, but they are not. The main ingredients are flour, cheese, honey and raki (the traditional Cretan spirit).
-Bougatsa, pastry filled with cream and dusted with powder sugar.
-Hohlioi boubouristoi (fried snails).
-Kserotigana, the honey dipped spiral or butterfly shaped pastries, sprinkled with crushed almonds.
-Cretan Cheeses. Well, I have been to many parts of Crete (Chania, Rethymnon, Sitia, Hersonissos) and it seems that every part has its own cheese. The most famous, though, are graviera, (a hard cheese made of sheep’s milk), anthotiro from Sfakia (white and soft cheese made of goat’s or sheep’s milk), ksigalo from Sitia (creamy textured cheese with rich and slightly sharp taste). There are many others, as well, that can be found in many places throughout Greece, but even these were primarily produced in Crete, such as mizithra, kefalotiri, staka, pichtogalo of Chania.
– Lamb with stamnagathi. Cretan people have their own lamb and they serve it with stamnagathi, a wild leafy green. It’s a Cretan variety, which has become famous internationally as a food ingredient.
– Apaki (smoked pork). A dish of pork made in a traditional Cretan way and not easy to be recreated outside Greece, at least not as the Cretans do it!
– Last but not least, tsikoudia or raki, the famous Cretan spirit.
The other islands featured are Naxos, Sifnos, Santorini, Folegandros and Lemnos.
