Rakomelo is a Greek mixed alcoholic drink.  It is a digestive spirit that's high in powerful antioxidants, like flavonoids, and it's been used as a home remedy for a sore throat or cough for centuries.

Rakomelo, a delectable blend of Raki (Crete's traditional spirit) and locally made honey, is the ideal alcoholic beverage to enjoy during the harsh winter months. It's even better when spiced up with cloves and cinnamon. During the summer, some people drink it at room temperature or even ice-cold, but the warm version is more popular.

Rakomelo's history dates back to the 12th century when the Peloponnese peninsula was occupied by the Franks. Others, though, place its story on  Crete and the Cyclades.

Rakomelo combines natural honey in complete harmony with the strong raki spirit, while cinnamon and clove buds bring the final touch to a distinctive and outstanding flavor, regardless of the real narrative.

Apart from being served Rakomelo in a cafe, bar, or taverna, you can buy this bottled in shops that sell traditional Greek products, especially Cretan ones.

Ingredients
    •    1lt of raki or tsikoudia (grape pomace drink)
    •    4-5tbs of honey
    •    2 cinnamon sticks
    •    4-5 cloves

Directions
Place the ingredients in a pot and boil them on a low fire, while stirring continuously. As soon as they boil sufficiently, turn off the flame and leave the rakomelo covered for approximately another 10’ to absorb the flavoring. Remove the cinnamon and cloves. Serve immediately or refrigerate in a bottle.

Recipe by iCookGreek.

Traditional Greek cuisine is based on the pure products from Greek Mother Nature to form a balanced nutritional model that can ensure a better quality of life and physical health.  Products with unique quality and unsurpassable nutritional values include; olive and extra virgin olive oil, dairy products, honey, ouzo, fish, juices, water, nuts, wines, mastic from Chios, crocus from Kozani and much more  These products have blended together and created a noble cuisine rich in nutritional ingredients, which can satisfy the high gusatory and nutritional needs of modern man.

Let's take a look at some of the highly regarded Greek products:

As the basis of every recipe found in traditional cuisine, olive oil plays a dominant role in Greek nutritional habits. Greek olive oil is known worldwide for its purity, exceptional taste and high nutritional value.  You will find it everywhere - in glass or plastic containers with the words "visrgin" and "extra virgin" printed on them.

You will find unique cheeses of exceptional quality in the market, and you should make the effort to try these cheeses, such as kaseri, graviera, kefalotiri, myzithraand metsovone. These cheeses vary according to their origin, taste and name. Some of these cheeses are found throughout the country, while others are locally produced for local consumption. The most famous is of course Greek feta cheese. This is a white semi-soft, heavily salted cheese which is the basic ingredient for the Greek or Horiatiko salad, but it is also used in many other recipes.

Greece is not only the birthplace of Dionysus (God of Wine), but also the birthplace of wine making.  This wine came from the islands of Chios and Thassos and was famous throughout the Ancient world.  Historical and social reasons, as well as various natural disasters, were the main reasons why the art of wine making was neglected from the middle of the 19th century up tot he beginning of the 60's.  Greek winds are produced from a variety of grapes, many of which are unknown to Western wine lovers.

To read more, please visit: Visit Greece

Souvlaki is one of the most popular street foods in Greece and for good reason. Its stuffed with well cooked and seasoned meat, garnished with a cooling tzatziki sauce, wrapped in a delicious crispy pita and best of all? It tastes like heaven! Souvlaki stands for “meat-on-a-skewer”, however the majority of Greeks and especially those from Athens call any type of pita wrapped meat a souvlaki, specifying the type of meat and method of roasting separately. For example Souvlaki with Pork Gyros or Souvlaki with Chicken Skewers etc.

This souvlaki recipe can actually be a very healthy dish if prepared the right way. By using good quality pork for your pork gyros, low fat yogurt for the tzatziki and avoiding dipping the pita in oil and frying but opting for a healthier baked version instead you can have the full-blown souvlaki with pork gyros experience in less than 270 calories – yes that is less than your average sandwich! That being said, if you feel a little naughty add some extra virgin olive oil to your souvlaki with pork gyros and enjoy a more street-food like experience.

Homemade souvlaki recipe – Preparing the pork gyros
The most important step in making the perfect, traditional Greek pork gyros souvlaki is nothing else but the pork! Select good quality pork meat, preferably slices of tenderloin and season with a selection of Greek spices like oregano, thyme, garlic and onion. The secret ingredient in this traditional Greek pork gyros recipe is adding a tiny bit of honey and vinegar to the marinade to break the intense pork meat texture. Marinading your pork gyros in the fridge for at least a couple of hours will allow the spices to infuse the gyros and give it the desired aromas.

The best way to serve your traditional Greek souvlaki with pork gyros is nothing other than wrapped in a delicious traditional Greek pita. Finding the original Greek pita can be quite challenging as most supermarkets stock only the arabian style ones but you can most likely find them at your local Greek deli. Of course tzatziki is the preferred sauce to garnish with. Don’t forget to garnish with some salt and paprika, sweet or spicy if you like an extra kick. Most Greeks enjoy their traditional Greek souvlaki with some potato chips stuffed in the pita so feel free to try adding some as well.

To read about how to prepare. please visit: My Greek Dish

It's Christmas time! Melomakarona (Greek honey cookies) are one of the most popular treats throughout Greece during the Christmas holidays, and their intense homely smell makes every house smell like Christmas. These sweet little Greek honey cookies (melomakarona) are quick to bake, so much fun to make, and highly addictive to eat. Consider yourself warned.

This easy-to-follow traditional Greek melomakarona recipe makes 60 delicious festive cookies, plenty for everyone to try.  Serve with a hot cup of coffee, and you have a match made in heaven! Let the smell of freshly baked cookies, orange, and cinnamon remind you it’s Christmas. Enjoy!

Ingredients for the Melomakarona

    •    150g thin semolina (5.3 ounces)
    •    500g flour (soft) (17.6 ounces)
    •    1/2 tbsp baking powder
    •    100g orange juice (3.5 ounces)
    •    3 tbsps cognac
    •    100g sugar (3.5 ounces)
    •    1 flat tbsp powdered cinnamon
    •    1/3 tsp nutmeg (powder)
    •    1/3 tsp clove (powder)
    •    1 tsp vanilla extract
    •    1/2 tbsp baking soda
    •    90g water (3.2 ounces)
    •    125g olive oil (4.4 ounces)
    •    125g vegetable oil (4.4 ounces)
    •    50g honey (1.8 ounces)
    •    zest of 1 orange

Ingredients for the Syrup

    •    500g water (2 cups)
    •    1 kg sugar (35.27 ounces)
    •    150g glucose (5.3 ounces)
    •    1 cinnamon stick
    •    some orange peel
    •    500g honey (17.64 ounces)

For the Garnish

    •    200g chopped walnuts (7 ounces)
    •    powdered cinnamon (optional)
    •    powdered clove (optional)

To see the full recipe and preparation instructions, please visit: My Greek Dish

 

Galaktoboureko is a traditional Greek dessert made with layers of golden brown crispy phyllo, sprinkled with melted butter, filled with the most creamy custard and bathed in scented syrup.. Simply amazing! This is a very easy to follow Galaktoboureko recipe for you to recreate this traditional sweet delight from scratch. After a lot of experimenting, My Greek Dish has distilled the essence of this delightful traditional Greek dish to a few easy to follow steps for you to make the very best Galaktoboureko on your first effort!

This easy to follow recipe can be summarised in three key stages:

1) Layering the phyllo sheets

2) Preparing the creamy custard filling

and

3) Preparing the scented syrup

The key for thee most flavourable Galaktoboureko is to use a good quality fresh butter to butter the phyllos sheets. The authentic Greek Galaktoboureko recipe calls for 'galaktos' butter - made from a mix of sheep's and cow's milk, but if you can't handle very strong flavour, then you can substitute with good quality fresh butter from cow's milk.  When preparing phyllo based desserts, a little trick to make the phyllo crispier and flakier is to sprinkle the melted butter over the phyllo sheets, rather than brushing them.  Working with phyllo can be trickey as it's brittle and can dry out very quickly, so check the handling tips before preparing.

For the custard, all traditional Greek Galaktoboureko recipes use thin semilina, to achieve the characteristic grainy texture of the crea, which in this case is not considered a flaw.  On the contrary, what is considered a flaw of this recipe is a very smooth, starchy and tight custard.  In most recipes, the eggs are added whole towards the end, but with Galaktoboureko, the eggs are beaten into meringues and combined in the semolina based cream. This is the secret to a more fluffy and creamy custard and to avoid the egg-y semall, which can ruin the flavour of this dessert.  Just be sure to add the semolina slowy to the warm milk to avoid it forming lumps!

To read more, please visit: My Greek Dish

Merry Christmas with these amazing festive sweet butter cookies! If you haven’t tried kourabiedes (Greek Christmas butter cookies) before, then you are certainly missing out. Soft, buttery, and fluffy with a crunchy bite and rich almond (or pistachio if you are feeling adventurous). This delicious kourabiedes recipe will definitely get you in a festive mood!

Kourabiedes are a delicious traditional Greek treat, packed with the aromas of fresh butter and roasted almonds and garnished with luscious layers of icing sugar - they are the ultimate Christmas cookie!

 

• 500 g butter, at room temperature
• 220 g icing sugar
• 1 g vanilla powder
• 1 teaspoon(s) rosewater
• 30 g bitter almond liqueur, or brandy or rum
• 200-280 g almond slivers or coarsely chopped, unsalted and toasted
• 900 g all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt

To Serve 

• 1 tablespoon(s) rosewater
• 300 g icing sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180ο C (350ο F) set to fan.

2. In a mixer’s bowl add the butter, the icing sugar, and beat with the paddle attachment at high speed, for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy and white.

3. Add the vanilla powder, the rosewater, the bitter almond liqueur, and keep beating. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

4. Break down the almond slivers with your hands, in order to crumble them, and add them to a bowl. Add the flour, the salt, and put them in the mixer’s bowl.

5. Mix the mixture with a serving spoon, very softly so that it does not lose its volume. As soon as the ingredients are homogenized, mix with your hands.

6. Shape balls, 30 g each, and transfer to a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Lightly press the center with your finger and bake for 20-25 minutes.

  
To see the full recipe and preparation instructions, please visit: akispetretzikis.com

Many studies have advocated drinking coffee to receive numerous health benefits – and now a new study suggests that Greek coffee may be the key to living a longer life.

Researchers from the University of Athens Medical School in Greece analyzed the link between Greek coffee and its potential benefits on cardiovascular health and found those who drank boiled Greek coffee had significantly better heart function, Counsel & Heal reported.

According to the study, only 0.1 percent of Europeans live past the age of 90.  However, on an island off the coast of Greece called Ikaria, the number of people living past the age of 89 is 10 times higher than the rest of the European population.  The Athens Medical School researchers were curious to understand if the islanders’ coffee consumption played a role.

To read more, please visit: Fox News

If you’ve ever been to the Greek island of Crete, or if you have ancestors that are from the island, chances are pretty good that you’ve had a spirit called Raki. In other parts of Greece, it’s known as Tsikoudia or Tsipouro. In Italy it’s called Grappa, in Spain it’s referred to as Oruja, and in the country of Georgia it’s called Chacha. To Americans, it’s often considered a form of moonshine, especially when they learn how it’s made.

Though it isn’t readily available in the United States, Greeks are eager to send travelers home with their homemade Raki. They usually put it in clear water bottles so that it can be easily transported. So, what is Raki exactly and why are Cretans so proud of it?

Raki comes from grapes

Simply put, Raki comes from byproducts created from the wine making process. After the grapes are pressed and the juice is stored so that it can begin fermenting, there’s a lot of leftover plant material. Greeks are resourceful people and they don’t let anything go to waste!

The resulting skins, twigs, and mash, which is referred to as pomace, is stored for around six weeks before it’s distilled into Raki. In fact, as long as the plant material is edible, it can eventually be distilled into Raki. Pictured here is an old fashioned distiller that is still used today to make this alcoholic beverage in many parts of Greece.

To read more, please visit: Greek Boston

 

Greek coffee is a strongly brewed coffee that can be found all over Greece, a staple of the Greek diet, and an integral part of the country's culture. According to studies, Greek coffee has major health benefits, going as far as to say that drinking a cup of Elliniko kafe a day can increase your lifespan!

To make Greek coffee, you'll need a briki, a metal (copper is best) pot with a long handle. Brikis come in many different sizes–anything between 2 and 6 cups is acceptable. However, keep in mind that if you're serving more than 6 cups at a time, you'll need to do it in stages.

1. Greek Coffee 
2. A briki
3. Water
4. Sugar
5. Demitasse cups

How To Make It

Step1: Take however many demitasse cups are needed and fill each with water. Then, pour the water from each cup into the briki. Add 1 heaping teaspoon of Greek coffee into the briki for each demitasse cup.

 

Milopita (Μηλόπιτα) or apple cake is traditionally enjoyed for breakfast in Greece. So moist, chock full of sweet, juicy apples and spiced with cinnamon and cardamom, milopita is a delicate breakfast or dessert that will become a fast favorite in your house!

This simple to bake recipe is a great way to use up apples that might be a little too bruised or old to eat on their own. And you can choose to mix in chopped walnuts or golden raisins for an apple cake with even more texture and tastes.

The apples for this cake are sliced, baked and chopped to your preferred size. Apple cider adds another layer of yum and helps to make milopita light and airy. I always like to freshly grind the cardamom seeds as they bump up the flavor and are the perfect complement to apples.

To bake your apples, just peel, core, thinly slice and layer in a baking pan.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. This is about 5 minutes less than you would bake them for Oven Baked Apples and leaves your milopita apples with a little bit of crunch and a bit more texture.

You can do this step ahead and keep your baked apples covered, refrigerated for 3-4 days.

To read more, including Ingredients, please visit: Greek Vegan