The spoon sweets are like little jars full of bright sunshine, straight from the heart of Greece. These traditional sweets are more than just a dessert - they are a piece of history, a taste of nature and a warm welcome, they are all of these together. Made from fruit, unripe nuts and sometimes even vegetables, the spoon sweets are slowly cooked in sugar syrup until they reach that perfect balance of tender and juicy.
And the best part? Almost anything can be made into spoon sweets. Think sour cherries, figs, oranges, eggplant, walnuts, kumquats, even the skin of a watermelon! Nothing is wasted!!!! In some parts of Greece, they even turn giant beans into spoon sweets... Every spoonful is like a delicious sweetness bomb, with every bite reminding us that simple ingredients can be magical.
Traditionally, these desserts are served to guests in the amount of a teaspoon as a gesture of hospitality, usually with a cold glass of water or a small cup of strong Greek coffee. It's rather the Greek way of saying: "Welcome, stay for a while!".
And yes, spoon sweets have been around forever. Before refrigerators made our lives easier, they were still a way for past generations to utilize and preserve the best gifts that nature lavishly bestowed upon them depending on the season. Today, they're a nostalgic nod to the past, but they remain extremely popular, emitting those relaxed, sunny Mediterranean moods with every tasty spoonful.
