Fikardou celebrates World Sustainable Gastronomy Day with 'Palouzes', a traditional pudding made of two simple ingredients

The connection between the recipe and Fikardou

The village of Fikardou is a small, rural settlement built on the southeastern slopes of the Troodos Mountain range, about 32km southwest of Nicosia. Fikardou is one of the few examples of a remarkable traditional settlement in Cyprus that has remained unspoiled over time and has managed to keep its architectural features and traditional way of life. It also presents a harmonious relationship between the built and the natural environment, enabling a perspective of the cultural landscape. The arable lands of the village are cultivated with vines, almonds, olives, cereals, and pulses. The inhabitants of the village have always been engaged in land cultivation. Viniculture and wine production formed the foundations of the village’s economy. The villagers used the Wine Press to produce wine, vinegar, grape juice, raisins, spirits, and local delicacies like ‘Palouzes’.

The traditional local delicacy of ‘Palouzes’

Palouzes is a pudding made with these two basic ingredients – either fresh grape juice during autumn or concentrated grape juice (petimezi or epsima, in Cypriot) in case no fresh juice is available. The origin of the Cypriot name of ‘palouzes’ possibly derives from Middle Eastern recipes with the name “balouza” which is a kind of pudding made with fruit juice or milk and corn flour (starch). The best time to make palouzes is from August to September or October when the grapes are sweet. Palouzes were made as soon as each housewife finished her harvest. It used to be made only for private use. Today, palouzes are made both by individuals and by small and large industries dealing with grape products, mainly whenever the harvest takes place, that is from August to September or a little earlier or later.

Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups of tea (1 liter) of grape juice

5 full spoons of flour

2 – 3 scented pelargonium leaves

blossom water

ground almonds

chopped walnuts

Preparation:

• First, boil half the juice with the pelargonium for five minutes.
• Dissolve the flour very well in the remaining juice (pass it through a strainer if necessary).
• Discard the pelargonium from the pot in which we previously boiled half of our juice and add to it the porridge we made with the other half with the flour.
• We constantly stir our cream until it thickens.
• It’s ready when it starts to bubble.

This recipe is a contribution from Fikardou to #Cook4Heritage, an initiative launched by TExTOUR on the occasion of Sustainable Gastronomy Day to highlight the profound connection between sustainable gastronomy, local recipes and ingredients, and the rich tapestry of cultural diversity found across the globe.