The unique local products of Attica land
The mainland and islands of Attica do not stand out just for their extraordinary historical and cultural richness. The whole of Attica offers an invaluable primary production and a wealth of nutritious foods. Here you will find exceptional farming products such as wine, pistachios, figs, olive oil, citrus fruits, vegetables and herbs, animal farming products such as dairy, meat, (sheep, goat, poultry etc), eggs and honey, as well as fishing and fish farming products.
Search for the true, authentic identity of Attica’s unique destinations, visit farms, cooperatives and wineries, neighbourhood shops and grocery stores, liquor stores and pastry workshops, and purchase top quality local goods produced in Attica land. Make sure they are enough, both for a quiet picnic in the shade of trees and to fill your suitcases on your way back home!
Aegina Fistiki (Pistachio) and Troezen Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Attica’s products of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), should definitely be on your shopping list. Of unsurpassed quality and unique flavour is the PDO Feta Cheese made by small producers, which you will find in cheese stores and grocery stores around Attica, as well as the famous Vravrona Figs, the Kythera Honey, the Poros “Lemon Mizithra” (soft cheese made with goat milk) and Marathon Vegetables, while Mesogeia Wine, starring Savatiano, will absolutely thrill you.
Besides vines, Mesogeia region is also famous for its olive and pistachio groves. Here you will find olive oil, “moustokouloura” (grape must cookies), raisins, fruits and vegetables, pistachio nuts (the Aegina type), handmade sourdough bread baked in wood fired oven, local cheeses and meats, as well as traditional recipes including Megara’s “boubaria” (traditional sweet pies).
In Attica you will enjoy Mediterranean products that are famous for their health benefits. In the Troezen-Methana region you will try citrus fruits, rusks and sweet cookies made with olive oil and Kalloni raisins, as well as olives, honey, dry figs, almonds traditional local cheeses and yoghurt. Methana peninsula is also famous for its delicious pears, the “ovries” (wild asparagus) and oregano that grows on its volcanic soil and is considered among the best not only in Greece but worldwide. Local delicacies with unique flavour and long history are “goglies” (handmade pasta), “poupeki” (milk pie), “sykomaida” (dessert made with dry figs) and “tsipilies” (thin sheet-like dough with syrup).
In Poros you will enjoy the most addictive spoon sweets made with fruit (lemon, orange, bergamot, bitter orange), as well as citrus fruit liqueurs and aperitives made with red wine and herbs. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to try the traditional pancakes with Troezen honey called “kiourles”, and of course the traditional amygdalota of Poros, with their wonderful aroma.
Amygdalota are also to be found in almost all islands of Attica, their recipes being slightly different from place to place. In Aegina you will love the protagonist of the island, Aegina pistachio, while in Salamina you will enjoy delicious and healthy moustokouloura and bread baked in wood fired ovens, you will try the traditional “platetsi” (olive oil pie) and “kougoulouari” (pumpkin pie), as well as fresh fish right from the catch of the day.
The blessed land of Kythera offers products of excellent quality, known for their flavour and health benefits, such as thyme honey that is produced on the island and is considered one of the best in the world. You will find it at the Agricultural Beekeepers Association of Kythera or at the producers’ selling points. The list of local products you will savour in Kythera is endless: olive oil and wine, samphire, olive oil rusks that match sweet and savoury flavours, a great variety of cheeses such as anthotyro, ladotyri, mizithra, graviera, mytato, fratsia as well as the traditional butter of Kythera and the “voutyrotsikoudo” – a fine treat that is extracted during the production of cream from sheep milk. Other “must-try” flavours of Kythera are the sausages made on the island, the “kalsounakia” (little pies with handmade fyllo and filled with different delicious flavours), as well as the traditional desserts such as the koumaro and the koufeto, mantoles and melounia, the moustalevria, the xerotigano and many more. Ask them by their name!
Anywhere you go in Attica, the wealth of goods you will try will astonish you, the flavours you will taste will be hard to forget and the freshness, purity and quality of products will thrill you. Here, daily life is full of super foods known from antiquity, products that are the basis of Mediterranean Diet, but mainly flavours that will indulge your taste buds!
