Savor from Tinos
Tinian cheese, louza, wild artichokes, cappers, figs, and rozaki grapes (a special variety of grapes) fill the delicious basket of Tinos and arrive at your table in the form of appetising, local specialties.
The fruits and products “born” on the island, among dry stones and terraces, are equivalent to megatons of savory surprises.
The land of Tinos can be characterized as anything but barren. Fertile, with a productive plain in Kato Meri, fields, watering gardens, and cultivations that ensure the self-sufficiency of its inhabitants, it stands as an exception to the rule of arid land in the Cyclades. The fruits and products that are “born” on the island, among dry stones and terraces, are equivalent to megatons of savory surprises. Even the barren locations give something; cappers, oregano, fennel, thyme, dittany, rock samphire, mint, and sage…
All these are engaged in providing aroma and a distinct aftertaste to the local specialties. Mushrooms, plenty of wild artichokes, sundried tomatoes, snails, pigeons, and rabbits, products that derive directly from the wild nature of Tinos, are transformed into traditional dishes of the Tinian cuisine (artichoke omelette, sundried tomatoes with batter, fourtalia with sausage or siglino,fennel balls, fennel pancakes, rabbit stew, fried snails, and squabs cooked in wine) that are served in the taverns and restaurants of the island.
In the modern cheese dairy near Tripotamos, exceptional kinds of cheese are produced, such as Tinos gruyere, spicy kopanisti (a PDO product produced only in the Cyclades), anthotyro, petroma (unsalted cheese), malathouni, round cheese (known as balls), and the Tinos delicatessen cheese (a worthy substitute for feta cheese with a mild taste). On the other hand, there are the cold cuts; like in Mykonos, the ancient custom called “choirosfagia” (pig slaughtering) takes place in the villages, and in this way louza, handmade sausages, skordato (a type of sausage with various spices), syglino (pork meat preserved in fat), glina (pork fat), sisera, and pichtes are produced. Alongside all these delicacies, there is a special place for the Tinian raki which is quite easy to drink, the white wine (askathari and aspropotamisio), produced from the local vineyard, kserotigana, sweet cheese pies, loukoumia, green or dried figs, and high-quality roszaki grapes.
