Souvla is typically made with lamb, but can also be made with pork or chicken. The meat is marinated in a combination of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and a variety of herbs and spices, giving it a unique and delicious flavor. It is then skewered onto a large spit and roasted over a charcoal fire, slowly turning until it is cooked to perfection.

The process of cooking Souvla is not just about the end result, but also about the experience of the preparation. It is a social and communal activity that is often enjoyed with family and friends, especially on special occasions such as weddings and religious celebrations. The meat is usually accompanied by a variety of meze dishes, including salads, dips, and bread, making it a hearty and satisfying meal.

One of the best things about Souvla is its versatility. It can be served as a main dish, or used as an ingredient in other dishes such as pita wraps, soups, and stews. It can also be enjoyed in a variety of settings, from a casual backyard barbecue to a more formal restaurant setting.

If you’re visiting Cyprus and want to experience the best Souvla, there are many restaurants and taverns that specialize in this dish. One of the most famous is the Souvlaki Tou Faka restaurant in Nicosia, which has been serving up delicious Souvla for over 40 years. Another popular spot is the Koutourou Ouzeri restaurant in Limassol, which offers a wide variety of meze dishes in addition to their delicious Souvla.

In conclusion, Souvla is an amazing dish that showcases the unique and flavorful cuisine of Cyprus. Whether you’re a meat lover or just looking for a new culinary experience, Souvla is a must-try dish that is sure to delight your taste buds. So, make sure to add Souvla to your list of must-try dishes when visiting Cyprus, and experience the delicious flavors and traditions of this amazing country.

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Ice-cream is the undisputed king of summertime treats. Everyone loves it, whether young or old, men or women. It’s cold, it’s refreshing, and most importantly, it’s delicious!

In essence, ice cream is the frozen dessert, which is usually made from cream and milk.

Milk-free ice cream is called granita and usually covers fruit flavors such as lemon or apricot.

The meaning of the word “ice cream” varies from country to country.

However, to separate different varieties and types of ice cream, terms such as: frozen yogurt, sorbet and gelato are used.

The most widespread view of the origin of ice cream is that of Chinese origin, that is, the ice cream is made specifically from Himalayan snows and cream of rice flour, milk and honey.

Many times, ice creams are decorated with various ingredients such as fruit, whipped cream, pies, chocolate or colored truffles, cookies or even syrup, it can be chocolate, strawberry, caramel and cherry or others.

Bulk ice creams, with which the customer can make flavor combinations, are served in a cone, cup or wide glass and are consumed with special ice cream spoons that have a long body.

Ice cream can also be served in balls as an accompaniment to crepes or pies (mainly apple pie) but also to syrupy sweets (such as baklava or kadaifi). Also, there are packaged ice creams on a stick and ice cream sandwiches.

Although today there are ice cream shops, few have “survived”. They work either in a bicycle-cart or in a van, which transports the refrigerator that keeps the ice cream. There are also ice cream parlors that have a permanent place to sell their ice creams.

The most common ice cream flavors are:

• Chocolate
• Strawberry
• Banana
• Cream or Vanilla

There are many others such as:

• Watermelon
• Melon
• Hazel
• Apricot
• Peach
• Nectarine
• Soldier
• Tiramisu
• Mocha
• Lemon
• Rum
• Mint
• Oreo cookies
• Bueno

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The custom of “Flauna” dates back to the 19th century and according to tradition was made on Holy Saturday and then transported to churches and consumed after the Resurrection. Nowadays, housewives usually make them on Maundy Thursday.

“Flaunes” is a food which in ancient times and even today, was used for the transition of believers from fasting to the consumption of non-fasting foods, without the risk of various stomach disorders.

The main ingredient of the traditional “Flauna” is the special cheese for flauna and eggs. The classic flauna contains cheese and halloumi. In recent years, however, many have shown a particular preference for anari, because it is a healthier choice and the process of preparing the dough is less time consuming.

The process of making the flauna starts from the previous day, with the grating of the cheeses to become the famous “foukos” or “fokos” or “foutzia”, in simpler words the filling. Then add the eggs, the yeast, the semolina to the cheese and mix them. They also add various scents (mahlep, mint, cinnamon, mastic) and raisins to the seal for a sweeter taste. The housewives leave the seal all night to “enter”, ie to inflate.

The next day the dough is prepared for the flauna leaf, after first the yeast has been shaken (regenerated) from the previous night. in small pies, it is filled with the seal and the edges of the pie are folded on the sides. Its shape varies from square, triangle or even round. After the preparation process is over, the final step is the baking of the flauns. The housewives place the flauns on plates or traditional chests and bake them either in their neighborhood oven or in a wood oven.

However, in some villages of Paphos, the so-called “Paskies” are prepared, which are slightly different from the other flauns. Paskies are round flaunes, about the size of a palm, and are stuffed with pieces of meat, usually fried with spices.

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Tsiknopempti or Smoking Thursday is the Thursday of the week of Kreatini.

On this day, it is customary in all the houses of Cyprus and Greece to grill meat and eat meat, grilled or in a pan, from where the strong smell of gum emerges in the air.From ancient times the Christians used to make meat tables. In order to have meat, in ancient times they had to slaughter an animal.

The only day that was opportune was Thursday, since Wednesday and Friday of this week there is a strict fast.

Tsiknopempti is also a popular day for going out to eat and enjoying as many different meats as possible.

Be sure to reserve a table ahead of time as restaurants and traditional taverns are typically fully booked!

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Winter is the season of soup and the Hot soup is an indispensable dish that allows not only to get enough, but also to warm up, and such a desire often arises in the winter, even in Cyprus.

So, draw the curtains, light the fire and ready the stove for some of our favourite winter soup recipes.

Trahana Soup

Trahana is a creamy soup made from goat’s cheese, chicken broth, wheat groats and lemon juice. Its preparation method is quite unusual as it is made solid, and then prepared with boiling water when needed. Trahana is usually served with yoghurt and grated Halloumi cheese.

Avgolemono Soup

This rich and creamy soup is made with chicken broth, egg yolks and rice. It’s a filling dish, perfect if you’re feeling particularly hungry. Avgolemono is sometimes also used as a sauce to accompany dishes such as pork or vegetables, so it’s particularly versatile, however, when in Cyprus, you’ll generally find it served up as a stand-alone dish.

Hortosupa Soup

If you’re looking for a healthy soup, that also packs a flavour punch, then opt for Hortosupa soup. Full of fresh local vegetables, with a little rice, tomatoes, potatoes and meat or chicken broth, it’s a simple soup that is just perfect on a winter’s day.

Louvana soup 

Louvana is a traditional Cypriot soup, It’s a delicious, nutritious, vegan and very easy to make. ‘Louvana’ are small, yellow split peas high in protein and low in fat. Great soup especially when is very cold! Give it a go.

Soup Fakes

Fakes is a Greek vegetarian lentil soup that is quick and easy to prepare and warms well in the fall and winter days. To make the soup more nutritious and aromatic, when cooking, instead of water, you can use meat broth.

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It’s a pasta made from flour and milk and has a grainy and irregular shape. The grains are about 2-3 mm in diameter.

It is available in different varieties: sour and sweet, thick and thin.

For the preparation of trachana, goat’s milk that has been left to sour or yogurt is usually used and mixed together with ground wheat and boiled until it becomes a thick mixture.

Produced during the summer months.

Trahanas is also called the soup that is prepared by boiling this dry product in water.

The sour trahanas is fermented with yogurt.

After the trahanas cools, it is molded into shapes and left to dry in the sun.

During the preparation of trahana, the last stage is its drying. To do this the trachanas is spread so that it has the maximum possible surface. This process, the spreading of trachanas, has remained as a popular expression, referring to someone who is typically late. Trachanas is cooked as a soup either with enough water or thicker.

The cooking time of trahana is usually short, about 15-20 minutes. Sometimes it is cooked with tomatoes.

In Cyprus, trahanas is made from finely ground wheat (also called konari in the Cypriot dialect) and is kneaded in a cylindrical shape with a diameter of about less than one centimeter and “spread” in the sun to dry.

It is also made in soup, usually thicker than other soups.

No tomato is used, but egg-lemon and usually contains some kind of meat.

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The visitors will be treated with freshly made palouze, they will have the opportunity to watch it being made, see how zivania is distilled and chech out some more traditional activities of the people in the village. .

Food and drinks will be offered along with traditional music and dances to all guests.

In the framework of the Festival, the process of preparing the traditional delicacy will be shown, while there will be live traditional music and other traditional sweets offered.
The Festival marks the completion of the summer events in the village.

The grape jelly or Palouze is a wonderfully and delicious traditional Cypriot dessert that takes advantage of the glut of grapes grown in the winemaking villages of the island.The traditional way of making palouzes is by mixing 10kg of grape must with 1kg of flour and heating the mixture while stirring continuously until it coagulates, adding rose water, cinnamon and mastic towards the end so as to maintain their aroma. Palouzes is then poured into plates where it is left to cool. Some people enjoy eating palouzes hot but it is more commonly served cold with a garnish of almonds or walnuts, whole or crushed. Due to its high moisture content, it has a few days of shelf life if not refrigerated.

Palouzes is a favourite energy food, often consumed along with zivania, a perfect warm-up during the winter.

There are many versions of how to prepare a palouze. From village to village and from region to region, the recipe is different.

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Shiamishi, is one of the most popular sweets in Cyprus.

Shamishi is made with homemade phyllo filled with an aromatic, sweet semolina cream, flour flavoured with anthonero (rosewater), and mastic.  The sweet is deep-fried and served hot with granulated sugar on top.

Shamishi has been produced in Cyprus since the 19th century and is considered a traditional delicacy of Cyprus’s traditional cuisine.

Loukoumades, are pastries made of leavened and deep-fried dough, soaked in syrup or honey, sometimes coated with cinnamon or other ingredients. The dish has been around as early as the 13th century.

This internationally known, decadent, and sugar-packed dessert is usually made with a mixture of flour, sugar, yeast, and salt, which is deep-fried and then bathed in syrup or honey. The origin of lokma fritters is ancient but often debated. It is presumed that they first appeared in Greece or Turkey, though some suggest an Arabic origin.

Alternatively, loukoumades can be topped with fresh cream, chocolate, sesame seeds, or walnuts.

Both of these desserts are vegan.

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It’s a  distillate produced from the pomace of grapes that were pressed during the wine-making process mixed with high-quality local dry wines produced from local grape varieties of Cyprus such as  Xynisteri and Mayro.

Zivania is characterized by its taste and aroma. It is colorless and pleasantly alcoholic with a light aroma of raisins. Its typical alcohol content is 45% by volume. Zivania contains no sugars and has no acidity.

Zivania has been produced in Cyprus since the time the Republic of Venice ruled the island, around the end of the 15th century.

Zivania, for those who don’t know, is the Cypriot version of Raki or Tsikoudia or Grappa. We sampled the different styles and felt glad of the central heating effect on our bodies. It was January  and even in Cyprus, it is not that warm up in the mountains at that time of year.

In Cyprus, other than enjoying zivania as an alcoholic drink, it is used for several other purposes. Zivania is used to treat wounds, for massaging sore body parts, as a remedy for colds and toothaches or as a warming-up drink during the cold months of winter, especially in the villages of the Troodos Mountains.

In some villages of Cyprus, cinnamon was added to zivania giving it a nice red color and a fine aroma and flavor. As zivania ages it gains a stronger flavor and aroma. Aged zivania has been valued very highly and is kept for consumption during special occasions or as a welcoming treat for visitors.

Even nowadays at some villages in Cyprus, local will welcome visitors with zivania served together with dried nuts, soutzouko or small appetizers like Cypriot loukaniko, lountza and tsamarella.

Zivania is served ice-cold with the local meze, soutzoukos or dried fruit and nuts.

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Halloumi is a versatile cheese made traditionally from goat-sheep milk, which can be baked, grilled, fried, or eaten as it is, and it goes well with both savoury and sweet dishes.

Furthermore, Cyprus is also known for another local cheese, Anari cheese, which is similar to the Greek Mizithra and the Italian Ricotta in taste and texture. Anari is a by-product of the production of Halloumi and can be either eaten fresh and soft (fresh Anari with honey and walnuts is a really popular dessert in Cyprus) or salted aged and dried, where it is used as a grated cheese on top of pasta, just like parmesan cheese.

However, there is a third local Cheese that is little known outside of Cyprus and even among Cypriots.  In fact, there are a lot who do not even know the existence of this cheese.

Halitzi (Χαλίτζι -pronounced «haleechi»), is a cheese which is exclusively produced only in the Polis Chrysochous Region, which is the area that corresponds to the Northern area of Paphos District, in Western Cyprus, also known as «Tylliria Area.»

Halitzi is (like the rest of the traditional Cypriot cheeses) exclusively made from goat-sheep milk and specifically from the goats and sheep, which resign at the Polis Chrysochous Region, where they are grazing the local vegetation all year long.

Halitzi, taste-wise, is a bit like feta cheese but a little sourer in taste than regular feta. Texture-wise, halitzi is somewhere between feta and halloumi (closer to halloumi actually) and has tiny holes through it. This is where perhaps it gets its name since hallitzi means small pebbles in the Cypriot Dialect.

Halitzi can be perfectly paired with watermelon, melon, or any other fresh fruit and with a traditional white Xinisteri wine, another local specialty of Cyprus! Also, like halloumi, it can be grilled, baked, fried, or part of a healthy salad.

Actions by the local authorities of Tylliria but also from the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), based in Limassol have been made for Hallitzi to be registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product, just like halloumi cheese. This designation will give much more fame and recognition to this local cheese and will provide a small but significant boost to the economy of the rural Tyliria Area.

Therefore, if you ever are in the area, grab the chance to try this unique cheese with the taste of Feta and the texture of Halloumi!

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