Chios cuisine is a brilliant example of Mediterranean diet and is defined mainly by the products that are produced locally.
The mild Mediterranean climate of the island, combined with its fertile soil, favors the production of many different high-quality products and gives rise to unique local recipes. Fresh vegetables, local meats, fresh fish, and virgin olive oil are the main ingredients of Chian traditional dishes.
The most characteristic dishes of Chios include avgokalamara (small omelets filled with minced meat), goat in tomato sauce (kokkinisto), hand-made pasta (also known as ‘sparti’ pasta because it is shaped by hand using a thin straw around which the dough is wrapped to create a characteristic hole in the middle of the short pasta), kopanistopitakia with ouzo, eggplant pilaf, malathrites (fennel pancakes), and finally kourmades, which are olives flavored with mastic.
In Chios, you can find myzithra and dry myzithra, kopanisti and fresh alm cheese, while mastello cheese made from cow’s and goat’s milk, ideal for grilling, is marketed under the protected designation of origin.
Mastic, used in various forms, is unique to Chios as it only thrives in this blessed place.
Mastic imparts its unique aroma to sweets and dishes, serving simultaneously as a spice, medicine, and incense.
Chios is known for its distillates, including ouzo, liqueurs, and mastic.
The ouzos produced by distilleries active on the island include Apalarina by Tetteris, Kakitsis, Stoupakis, and Psychi.
On the slopes of Mount Amani, local grape varieties Chiotiko Krassero and Agiannitis are cultivated, from which Ariousios Austiros is produced.
The Gastronomic Dictionary of Chios
Volisiano bread, a dense black yeast bread.
Mamoulia, cookies with walnuts.
Masourakia, sweet pastries filled with almond in the shape of a flute.
Melaleuria made from Chios honey with walnuts and cinnamon.
Paximadia Pitiaka.
Pastelaries, a handmade Chian sweet made from juicy baked figs stuffed with almonds, spices, and sesame.
Pitianos or Kalathisios, a hard cheese made from goat’s and sheep’s milk.
Restes, a method by which islanders hang tomatoes on the walls of their homes. The tomatoes form a necklace and are kept in a cool, shaded place throughout the winter.
Rodinia, a traditional cylindrical sweet like a wheel, made from almond paste with a butter cream filling.
