LOCAL PRODUCTS.
LESVOS SPECIALTIES.
BEVERAGES
Wines of Greece. Greek Beer. Greek Spirits.
Did you know Lesvos is a Foodie destination? Lesbian cuisine (stop snickering) is famous for its diversity and taste.
Lesvos was the “Orchard of the Ottomans” for many years and the right reason. Mountains on the island tweak the Mediterranian climate, creating micro-climates.
Cereals, including wheat, barley, and oats, trace back thousands of years. Fava beans, Chickpeas, broad beans, and lentils also have long lineages.
Olive trees are the king crop. The island also has more than 100 varieties of pears, figs, apples, cherries, lemons, and other fruit trees.
Why do aubergines, onions, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, garlic, dill, and other vegetable and herbs show up in local dishes? Because they grow them locally. Most importantly, they pick them when they are ripe.
What else?
Olive oil, local cheeses, seafood, and wine are an integral part of the Lesvos cuisine. Goat and lamb are the most popular meats on the island, and they fix them in several ways. You will also find beef and pork.
So does Lesvos cuisine taste just like Turkey’s? They are almost touching. They do have things in common since the island and adjacent mainland was once part of Greece, then Turkey. But it also has influences from other visitors over the years.
Then you have the local spin on all of it. The result is a simple and sophisticated cuisine.
The Greeks are not big on frozen food, and Lesvos cuisine is no different. It centers around seasonal vegetables and local meat and seafood.
Come, it is time to taste Lesvos.
Taste Lesvos Through Local Products.
PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) products come from a specific area. They have characteristics due to that particular geoclimatic environment, and production takes place in that region.
PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) products also come from a specified area. Only one of its characteristic needs to be from this area. Also, only one part of the production must take place in the region.
Currently, Lesvos has P.D.O. Cheeses.
P.G.I. Products include olive oil, wine, and ouzo.
Olive Oil
The best thing to happen to the Lesvos olive industry was the Great Frost of 1850. It destroys every olive tree on the island. How is that good?
The island bands together and imports new trees that are resilient to the local weather. They build terraces and cultivate the land, much of this by hand. When they finish, they have sturdier trees. And more than they have ever had. They import the best olive pressing equipment to reinvent the island’s olive industry. Today, the island has over 11 million olive trees.
LESVOS P.G.I Extra Virgin Olive Oil
All olive oil on the island falls under the P.G.I. status. Do they taste different from different companies? You will need to sample them to find out
Taste Lesvos Specialties.
You will find the standard Greek items that appear on just about any Greek menu.
However, the island has several traditional things that you will find nowhere else. Or at least their preparation and presentation. You’re on Lesvos. Shouldn’t you taste Lesvos cuisine?
Meze (appetizers)
A tidbit to go with a cold glass of ouzo.
Sardeles Pastes – are a summer appetizer. They catch the sardines in the morning, salt them, and eat them raw at happy hour.
Gavros Marinatos – fresh local anchovies in olive oil and vinegar marinade. Think Lesvos ceviche.
Aubergine Balls – They use local eggplant and bread to make balls they fry.
Mushroom Balls – the same idea adding bread and onions to the mushroom mixture.
Scallops – go on the grill and get a sprinkle with olive oil.
Fried Pumpkin Flowers – they carefully stuff with local cheese before frying.
Sausage
Pastourma – is a cured beef that goes through three different drying periods. They add a paste, including peppers and garlic, during one of the drying periods.
Soutzouki – is a dry beef sausage with intense Anatolian spices. Predominantly as an ingredient in recipes.
Taste Lesvos Cheese
What makes the Lesvos cheeses, milk, and yogurt unique? Is it practice? Homer mentions them in his Odyssey. Is it the sheep and goats diet? I’m not sure, but I know it’s worth trying.
Ladotiri (Kefalaki) of Mytilene – is one of the island’s P.D.O. Cheeses. It is a hard cheese from sheep and goat milk and ages underground. Slightly salty with a strong taste, it is predominantly for eating plain, but you may find it in cooking.
Feta – another P.D.O. Cheese from Lesvos in the local Feta. They preserve this soft cheese in brine. The Lesvos Feta has its unique flavor.
Kasseri – also has P.D.O. Status. Lesvos is one of three places you can find this cheese in Greece. It is a semi-hard cheese, with a consistent texture and pale yellow color. Coming from sheep and goat’s milk, they age it for at least three months.
Other Cheeses.
Graviera – can be found on many islands, and each one tastes slightly different. Lesvos is no different. Hard cheese with golden skin. It is a light color and may have small holes scattered inside. It has a slightly sweetish taste due to the sheep’s milk. They age it for at least three months.
Kaloupaki – This soft white cheese is from sheep’s and goat’s milk, and sits in brine. It has a slightly sour taste. They age it for at least two months before eating.
Kefalotyri – is a famous hard cheese popular in Greek cuisine. The color is white to yellow, and it has a strong spicy flavor. It comes from sheep and goat’s milk, and they age it for at least three months.
Gravieritsa – is similar to Graviera and is from sheep and maybe some goat’s milk. It is a hard cheese that they eat raw or some use in cooking.
Yogurt and butter also taste much different (better) here than most of what you can find at home. Give it a try.
Taste Lesvos at the Market
Where can you go to find cheese and sausages? Some cities have covered markets where fishmongers fight for the next customer. In Mytilini, they are more civilized. Ermou Street is their agora. The shops include butchers, grocers, cheese, wine, fish, souvenirs.
Big deal, many streets have those. But in Mytilini, the shops extend out onto the sidewalk, making the pedestrian street more like a bazaar. A visit here, especially in the morning, is a treat.
Meat
Paidaikia (lambchops) – you will find on just about every Greek menu. I believe you should try them in every village or city you find them in.
Brizoles – are beef or pork steaks, which they also do on the grill. So meat-eaters don’t panic but try the seafood — just one bite.
Loukaniko (sausage) – is more of an entree than a meze. Typically the sausage seasoning includes orange peel, fennel seed, and other local herbs.
Pork with Lemon sauce – there are many variations. I have had this more like a pork chop with a lemon sauce. There is also a version like thick pork, onion, and lemon soup.
Soups and Stews – are more visible in colder months. Zucchini, eggplant, chick-peas, and fava beans show up in many recipes.
Soutzoukakia (Smyrna meatballs or Izmir kofte) – are definitely from the mainland. These spicy oblong meatballs are usually beef but may have some pork in them. They bake them in a tomato sauce.
Kiskek – is popular during festivals. It is a mixture of cooked wheat, lamb, and topped off with butter. A cross between cream of wheat with a mashed potatoes consistency, with lamb. Hard to explain, but tasty.
Chicken
Like the goats and sheep, many chickens are free-range. Many families keep a few chickens for fresh eggs. I do not find many chicken dishes on menus and nothing that says “only in Lesvos.”
Fish
Every town village or house by the sea has the freshest and best seafood on the island. (I’m not getting in the middle of that discussion.) Sigri lays claim to the best lobsters on the island. Unfortunately, if you have had lobster from the Atlantic, warm water lobster just does not taste as good. But you can find lobster in Greece, and you will pay a pretty drachma for it.
Stick to the seafood the island is famous for, anchovies, sardines, clams, and mackerel.
Saganaki – WHAT? That’s an appetizer. Saganaki is the name of the pan they fry cheese in, but they also use it for a tasty shrimp dish. They begin with one of the local cheeses, ladotiri, graviera, I have even seen feta. It also includes shrimp in tomato. I don’t say sauce, because I have seen a baked shrimp with feta and tomato bits. Sometimes they fry the cheese. Other times they drop it in the middle of the shrimp and tomato. You can have it as an appetizer since, in Greece, you share all the dishes.
Liokafta – is a preparation, not the name of a fish. Using mackerel or tuna, they clean the fish, then dry it in the sun with seasonings on the inside. After a day, they broil them with olive oil and lemon.
Stuffed Calamari – is precisely that. The stuffing is rice with an assortment of local seasonings and herbs.
Calamari Comment
If you order Greek calamari – it probably isn’t. Due to its popularity, Greece has a calamari crisis.
Calamari from the fryer is probably from the freezer and from somewhere else. That is not entirely awful; Greeks are somewhat picky about their squid. It will not be wrong, just not fresh.
If you are ordering it in January, it is probably not fresh.
If you are ordering it at a restaurant with the menu in seven languages… You deserve what you get. When it is fresh, most tavernas will advertise as such.
Stuffing
Lesvos seems to have real joy is stuffing things. They stuff everything they can get their hands on. The cheese pies have a filling of the local cheeses. They stuff calamari, chicken, lamb, the traditional peppers and tomatoes, pumpkin flowers; you name it.
Sougania – is something I have only found on Lesvos. It is onions with a filling of minced meat and rice. They boil them and add a lemon sauce before serving. I will eat just about anything with a lemon sauce.
Imam Bayildi – is not something you regularly find in Greece because it is a Turkish dish. But you can find it on Lesvos. It is a whole eggplant that they stuff with a tomato, onion, garlic mixture.
Taste Lesvos Vegetables
In short, Lesbian cooking, like most places in Greece, depends on what the chef (mother) can get that day. Vegetables are no exception. Most are fresh with simple preparations. And there are a few that stand out. We talked about mushroom balls under Meze. The island has around 150 varieties of mushrooms.
Koukia – Fava beans with a lemon sauce. Did I mention I love lemon? Try the lemon potatoes as well.
Sfougato – is a zucchini and egg dish somewhere between an omelet and a souffle. I’m pretty sure it is not exclusive to Lesvos. However, the local onions, tomato, and cheese in it make it unique. They do a similar dish with multiple colors of local peppers.
Chickpeas – are usually in something. They are mixed with beef or for vegetarians, in a spicy tomato sauce.
Taste Lesvos Desserts and Sweets
Sugared Almonds – are almonds they boil, then crumble into a sugary goo. As it cools, they shape them into small pieces.
Pumpkin Pie – There seem to be several variations on this. One is a small phyllo triangle with a grated pumpkin filling. I have also seen one that is more like a cake. Both were very good.
Plantzeta – is phyllo pastry with a filling of crushed almond or walnut in syrup.
Traditional Sweet – is not the Greek name for this dessert. It was the only translation my friends could give me. They fry strips of dough and then dip them in a gooey syrup. They sprinkle nuts and cinnamon over the top. The secret ingredient in the mixture is supposedly ouzo.
Baklava – Wait a minute; everybody has baklava. On Lesvos, they use almonds and a dash of rose water to give it a different texture and taste. Try it.
Spoon Sweets – is somewhere between homemade fruit jam and syrup with fruit in it. They put it on bread at breakfast, yogurt during the day, and on a cake or ice cream at night. Or, they eat it by the spoon. I love these people.
However, many fruits they have, they have flavors of spoon sweets. It is probably the oldest of Greek desserts. The ancients were boiling quince in wine and preserving it in honey thousands of years ago.
Honey
The island is home to approximately 400 bee-keepers making honey. Many are for personal use, but there are also several large producers. Many of the individual operations are organic, and they will sell their surplus. Ask around.
The most popular types of honey on the island are Thyme honey (méli thimaríou). Many consider this the best quality of Greek honey.
Lesvos has more than one flavor of honey. Try them all.
Pine honey (méli elátou) comes from higher up on the hillside. It is a mix of pollen from the fir tree.
Flower honey comes from various wild herbs and flowers.
Click the orange link to read more about Greek Cuisine,
Taste Lesvos Beverages
Spirits
Ouzo – No discussion of Lesvos would be complete without discussing Ouzo. Many believe the best Greek ouzo comes from Lesvos. You can find ouzo all over the island, including “factories” in the Mitilini agora.
But the mothership of ouzo is the village of Plomari. On the south shore of the island, it is just under an hour’s drive from Mitilini.
Forget about what you drank at a fraternity party, during a visit to Greece in your 20’s. Or, in my case, a long contract on a Greek ship. Quality ouzo has nothing to do with the cheap stuff they sell for a few dollars a bottle.
Some ouzos today are fine sipping liqueurs.
If you go to Lesvos, and you do not sample local ouzo, shame on you.
And visit the ouzo museum in Plomari. You are here to experience the island.
Beer
A little behind other countries, Greece began micro-brewing in the late 1990s. Lesvos now has its first microbrewery as of 2018. (You can still get the stuff from northern Europe, but you’re not in Amsterdam.)
You cannot visit the brewery yet. If you are a beer drinker, look for beer from the Sigri Brewery in the local tavernas.
Wine
Does Lesvos have wine? Not only that but a noteworthy wine industry and P.G.I. Status. Lesvos wine earned its status in 2010.
The P.G.I. Status applies to all the wine on the island. The wines include semi-dry, semi-sweet, and sweet white, rose, and red.
The major grapes are Athiri, Assyrtiko, Savvatiano, Vaftra, Mandilaria, Fokiano, and Chidiriotiko.
Taste Lesvos Summary.
Are these all the traditional foods and beverages of Lesvos? Hardly!
But these will keep you busy for a few days and give you an insight into the local cuisine.
So many people try to visit Lesvos for a day and leave with the wrong impression.
Why not plan to spend 3-4 days and see, experience, and taste Lesvos.