Local Dishes and Flavours in Neos Marmaras and around Sithonia, Halkidiki
Taste and tradition
Halkidiki offers the delights of the Mediterranean cuisine, the extra virgin olive oil, the cheese, the herds, the honey, the wine from the local vineyards and the traditional tsipouro, as well as fresh fish and locally produced meat, in marvelous dishes that will excite you.
Wine
On the sun-drenched slopes of Mt Meliton, the warm, dry climate and the humidity from the Aegean Sea create a beneficial environment for winemaking. The red wine is made from Limnio, an old Greek variety, along with the French varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. A white wine comes from the white grape varieties of Assyrtiko, Roditis and Athiri.
Olives and olive oils
The olive tree is indigenous. From ancient times until today it contributes to the local economy. In ancient times, the oil had many uses, from lighting to lubrication. Halkidiki, thanks to its climate and to the morphology of its land, produces oil and olives, which are distinctive for their special taste and quality. The olive trees of Halkidiki are cultivated without chemical interventions. The olives are rich in organic characteristics and they are processed by one major principle: the satisfaction of the consumers. The high nutritional value and the unique taste of the olives and the oil have rendered them as integral part of the Mediterranean nutrition.
Tsipouro
Tsipouro is the clear product of the marcs distillation, which means that it is not submitted to any scenting process. The variety and the fermentation procedures of the grapes, the distillation way, the analogy of ingredients are all the determinative factors during the production procedure. Tsipouro is colorless, and has a very high degree of alcohol, that is why it is often drunk with water and always with some snacks, which traditionally have the following order: light salads, pickles, various dry-salted fish, crawfishes, shrimps etc.
Honey
Halkidiki is the motherland of beekeeping. Over 6.500 beekeepers and 2000 tons of production of high quality honey, annually, is sufficient to characterize Halkidiki as the center of beekeeping in Greece. Aristotle 2.300 years ago praised the honey and its benefits to man by saying that is prolongs life. Today the area’s beekeepers respect the tradition and exploit the rich fauna of the area, in the most pure way by producing great quantities of quality honey of a high nutritional values.
Cheese products
The climate and soil conditions, the flora of Halkidiki and the powerful tradition in cattle breeding, result in the production of high quality products. The traditional cheese of the area is produced from pure goatish milk and has an increased contend of protein.
Marmalades
A great variety of fruits of excellent quality is being cultivated all around the area, without use of fertilizes. These tasteful fruits are the raw material for the production of the well-known marmalades. High quality, special taste and the respect to tradition have established these products in the Greek and foreign market. The traditional marmalades and the deserts of Halkidiki, transform the simple breakfast into unique and tasteful experience.
Pastries
Both, the traditional and modern bakeries of Halkidiki, create unique bread products and pastries. The hard wheat, which is being cultivated in great areas in Halkidiki and is rich in proteins, amino acids, vitamins and rich acids, is used as raw material. The traditional receipts which pass from one generation on the next, covert it into delicious pastries, the high nutritional value of the raw materials and the respect to tradition make the local pastries popular to all its visitors.
Dishes and Flavors of Neos Marmaras
Sweets :
• Macaroon (almond and sugar)
• Sweeties (paste stuffed with red onion, sugar and seasoners)
• Quince paste
• Penir Halva (it is made from fresh cheese)
• Sout Halva (similar to Penir Halva-it is made by milk and butter or fresh cheese)
• New Year Cake Mpaklava
• Augokalamara (a type of pan cake)
Dishes :
• A Soup of Easter night (bowels and entrails of goat minced with mint, parsley, anise and fresh onion)
• Large intestine (bowel stuffed with entrails and rise)
• Gabbage leaves – Lachanodolma
• Pumpkins stuffed with yogurt sauce or egg with lemon
• Stuffed Chicken with rise, anise and onion
• Stuffed Goat on the oven
• Fish Plaki (on the oven with onions)
• Manti (purse chopped meat made by homemade pie-leaf cooked in the oven- served with yogurt sauce)
• Papoutsaki-Egg plant stuffed with onion and chopped meat
• Imam-a dish similar to Papoutsaki
• Different types of dishes and ways of cooking fish
• Stuffed vine leafs (vine leafs with rise, anise, parsley and mint)
Delicacies:
• Salted fishes
• Shells on the steam (barnacle, pebbles, oyster etc…)
• Other types of shells like sea urchin etc
• Sea flowers fried with flour
• Fried Pumpkins’ balls