#palouzes

Traditionally made shoushoukos

Traditionally made palouze.

Palouze is a traditional sweet made by boiling grape juice. The grapes are usually harvested in September-October and that is the time when it is made.

In older days the grapes would be stomped on to release the juice but that method is no longer used. The juice is placed in a large pot called a χαρτζί (harche)*, and starts to boil. A special type of white soil (ασπρόχωμα - asprohoma) is added to it to help clean the juice from impurities which rise up to the surface and can then be removed.

Then flour is added along with rosewater to give it a pleasant aroma and it is continually stirred until it becomes the thick mixture portrayed in the photos. It is then placed into different dishes and left to cool down and thicken into a jelly-like substance.

It is usually served cold with crushed almonds or walnuts on top but many people enjoy eating it warm once it has been removed from the heat. Because it does not have a very long shelf life in the fridge it is then left to dry in the sun and then cut into rectangular pieces creating another traditional sweet known as κιοφτέρκα (kiofterka), which have a much longer shelf-life.