Traditional Cypriot sweets: the most delicious desserts and pastries on the island

Apart from the beautiful nature, unique sightseeing spots and rich cultural life, Cyprus offers the visitors its incredibly delicious cuisine. The traditional dishes of Cyprus combine delicious and healthy ingredients grown on the island. The Mediterranean cuisine is considered one of the most balanced and healthy in the world, so a vacation in Cyprus will have a good healing effect on the entire body. The locals love to treat themselves to some mouth-watering sweets and offer their guests amazing desserts that win the hearts and the stomachs. What Cypriot desserts you should try while on the island? What can and should you bring with you from your holiday? Here are our best picks

What are the must-try sweets in Cyprus?

When visiting cozy cafes and restaurants on the island, you should pay special attention to desserts. If you have never tasted any of Cyprus desserts before, below is a list of the most delicious and unusual sweets that are worth trying for all those with a sweet tooth:
● Pastelaki. This is a specific type of sweet that is prepared using the fruits of the carob tree. To do this, the fruits are boiled for a long time to make a syrup, which is then poured into shallow moulds. When the syrup cools, it becomes caramel-like. There are many different recipes for making pastelaki. It can be pure, or with the addition of sesame seeds, peanuts, all kinds of seeds and nuts.
● Baklava. Since baklava is quite popular in many resorts of the world, the taste is well known to all tourists. But it is in Cyprus that you can discover its true taste. Baklava is a puff pastry cake often soaked with honey or syrup, and is a great addition to coffee. The cake is quite simple to prepare, so you can easily make one at home.
● Glyko. Cyprus cuisine has a lot of delicious and healthy recipes, and many desserts will not only be a delicious snack, but also a source of vitamins and minerals. Glyco is a good example of such a vitamin-rich dessert. Nuts, fruits, and sometimes even vegetables are preserved in sugar syrup. One of the popular dessert options is layered and generously doused with syrup - walnuts, slices of orange, lemon, figs, carrots and flower petals. Since the dessert is very sweet, it is served in cafes and restaurants with a glass of water.
● Mahallebi. This is a popular Cypriot dessert that came to the island from Turkish cuisine. It is a kind of pudding, often made with rice or corn flour.

Cyprus pastries are true art and a delight for the taste buds, a temptation impossible to resist. Make sure to try galactobureko (puff pastry pie), kolokoti (pumpkin pie), shamishi (pastries with delicate orange filling), and, of course, the famous Cypriot doughnuts - loukoumades.
Obviously, trying all of the Cyprus sweets during your vacation is a mission impossible. Fortunately for tourists with a sweet tooth, many Cypriot desserts will easily survive a trip to another country, so they can be enjoyed even after a vacation in Cyprus. Rest assured, family and friends will also appreciate Mediterranean sweets as an edible souvenir.

What sweets to bring with you from Cyprus?

Sweets are a popular Cyprus souvenir. Most of them can be safely transported over long distances without losing their taste. The following Cyprus Mediterranean sweets can be an excellent choice as a gift to your family (and yourself):

• Suzuko. A well-known and popular Cypriot sweet which you can buy it almost everywhere on the island. This dessert is a thickened grape juice with a touch of honey with different fillings, such as nuts or pieces of fruit on a string. It has a sausage shape and is equally loved by both the locals and the tourists. Suzuko is an excellent option for a snack - they are moderately sweet and hunger quenching. They can be kept for a long time and don’t need any special storage conditions.
• Loukoumi. Another sweet that came to the island from the Turkish cuisine. The dessert is prepared using surprisingly simple ingredients - sugar, starch and water. These are the basic ingredients, and various nuts, syrups, vanilla and even rice are added to create more interesting flavours. Loukoumi is a great option for a Cypriot souvenir. Not only you can buy this fresh and affordable dessert, but also watch the production process in factories near the most popular tourist cities - Pafos and Limassol. Properties in these cities are modern and comfortable both for short-term and permanent residence. If you are on holiday in these areas, do not miss the opportunity to visit a loukoumi factory.
• Kataifi. Even the most demanding food lovers will love this unusual dessert. It looks exquisite and has a very unusual taste. The sweet is made with thinly stretched dough, which looks like thin threads. These threads are twisted into a nest and stuffed with nuts, sugar syrup and spices.

There is no doubt that Cyprus pastries and desserts will pleasantly surprise every visitor. Create your own experience of delicious and sweet Cyprus. And our experts will help you choose a perfect property on the island!