Maria is busy preparing traditional bread in Choirokoitia—a historical village in the district of Larnaca in Cyprus. She mixes flour, salt, water and yeast in a wooden trough to make the dough which is then kept aside for a minimum of 30 minutes for the yeast to rise. A local way of checking whether the dough is ready is by putting a finger in it. If the finger is pushed back by the rising dough, it is ready to be baked.
Since the dough is not yet ready, Maria proceeds to make ‘flaouna’ which is basically a cheese pastry that is an Easter staple in Cyprus. For the filling, she uses cheese, spices and traditional herbs. The dough for the flaky pastry is prepared with flour, brown eggs, salt and olive oil. As she kneads, Maria explains that flaouna making is passed down generations and most women in Cyprus have learnt it from their mothers and grandmothers. It is a sort of women-bonding activity.
“If it isn’t fresh, we don’t want it,” Maria continues to tell the group of visitors who watch her work in the kitchen. Fresh seems to be the undisputed motto of homemakers in Cyprus as Cypriots enjoy freshly cooked daily meals. By now, the traditional bread is ready to go into the wood-fired oven which is located in the central open air courtyard. There is wooden furniture, stone steps leading to upper-level rooms and potted flowering plants in this courtyard. A ‘pitharia’, which is a huge pot made of terracotta and resembling an onion in shape, is also placed in one corner.
Tangy freshly prepared lemonade, freshly baked flaouna and the traditional bread which is crispy on the outside and melt-in-the-mouth inside is a great way to relish the local flavour of Choirokoitia. Homemakers also prepare and sell traditional pasta called ‘sklinitsi’. Semolina, salt and water are mixed for its dough which is broken by hand into tiny balls. A reed is used to turn the balls into hollow cylindrical shapes that are then naturally dried.
If Choirokoitia focuses on getting the daily supply of carbohydrates, then Foini is sugar paradise. The village enjoys a scenic location in the Troodos Mountains amidst pine trees and cherry blossom trees. It welcomes visitors to live demonstrations of preparing the Cypriot traditional sweet called ‘loukoumia’.
Folklore debates on how the village got its name. Some believe that it refers to ‘foinikas’ which is Greek for palm tree while others credit the Frankish lord named Feniu for its origin. However, no one debates about the popularity and delicious taste of loukoumia for which sugar, cornstarch and flavouring is slowly heated and churned simultaneously. The result is a chewy delight which is then dusted with white powdered sugar. The most popular flavour is rose while lemon and bergamot are also available.
Another popular sweet that can be relished in Cypriot villages is honey balls where flour balls are deep-fried, soaked in honey and served hot. Villages like Fikardou which won the Europa Nostra Award for cultural heritage and Anogyra serve delicious honey balls. Cypriots love Halloumi cheese and it is found at breakfast where it is served cold and eaten with olives and bread, and even during meals where it is either grilled or fried and also consumed as a snack in a sandwich. It has a chewy texture when it is grilled and served with cherry tomatoes and zucchini. It is also served in a mezze platter. A salty white cheese, Halloumi can either be prepared from goat’s milk or sheep’s milk.