Tinos Local Specialties
Tinos is part of the Cycladic islands, which are famous for their gastronomy and their healthy Mediterranean cuisine. Below are listed some of the most famous Tinian specialties and dishes:

Capers salad
Thick capers are sun-dried, then boiled and soaked in water in order to lose their bitterness. Before serving, it is drained and it is usually accompanied with garlic sauce, oil and vinegar.

Louza
Louza is something like the Italian prosciutto, but is made of filet marinated first in salt for three-six days and later in red wine for several days. Afterwards it is spiced with pepper, nutmeg and other spicy seeds and “smoked” for four hours. After being dried for about two months louza is served cold in very thin slices.

Patatokeftedes (potato balls)
Potatoes are boiled, mashed, and mixed with onion, grated cheese, salt, pepper and oregano. Then, this mixture is shaped into little balls and fried in oil.


Psarakia
Yeast is cut into round pieces and filled with nut, honey, cinnamon and rusk. After they are baked, they are sprayed with rosewater and sprinkled with caster sugar. This desert has a unique aromatic taste.

Skordoloukanika (sausages with garlic)
These are sausages made of pork meat, where the meat is marinated with garlic and sweet wine for about four hours. Then, this is used as a stuffing for the pig’s intestines and the sausages are dried by the wind and sun. “Skordoloukanika” are a main ingredient of “Furtalia”.

Syglina or syglino
Little pieces of soft pork meat initially boiled in water and later in pork grease (“glina”). When the meat turns red, it is ready to be stored in jars made of clay.

Furtalia
This delicious omelet is made of eggs, skordoloukanika or syglina, grated cheese, milk, parsley, salt and pepper. Sometimes, more ingredients are added, like potatoes, and its main difference with simple omelets is that it is fried in “glina”, which is pork grease.

Pichti
This is a broth made of the grease that derives from the head and feet of the pig, mixed with garlic, vinegar and spices. Pichti is turned into a gel after freezing.

Sun-dried (“liastes”) tomatoes
Fresh tomatoes are cut in half, sprinkled with sugar and dried by the sun. Before being served they are usually scalded in boiling water and fried in oil or flummery.

Xerotigana
Made of flour, water, lemon and oil which are then turned into yeast, xerotigana are fried and served with cinnamon, honey and sugar. They are served at weddings, feasts and funerals, accompanied with the Greek traditional beverage “raki”.

Avgokalamara
Similar with xerotigana, only their yeast has eggs and milk instead of water.


Tsimbites (cheese pies)
These cheese pies are quite unusual, because they are not salty but sweet. They are stuffed with “analati” cheese, eggs, sugar, vanilla, mastic and cinnamon. Tsimbites are a mandatory dish for Easter.



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