On a food tour in Athens, I made an unexpected discovery at a small café — my first taste of a rose petal spoon sweet, a traditional Greek dessert. Served in a tiny glass jar with a miniature spoon, this traditional dessert is a staple in Greek households, often seen as a gesture of hospitality to make guests feel welcome in a home. The practice of making spoon sweets dates back to Ancient times and remains an integral part of Greek culture today. To learn more about this Greek dessert, I got the “scoop” on spoon sweets from Andia Xouris, chef and owner of Andia’s Ice Cream, who grew up eating this dessert throughout her childhood.
What is a spoon sweet?
“A Greek spoon sweet, or glyko tou koutaliou, is a delicious, traditional dessert, made using large pieces of one type of fruit that are slowly cooked in a thick, sugary syrup until they get glossy and perfectly sweet,” says Xouris. “Typically served in tiny portions (with a cold glass of water on the side), this dessert is often made fresh by the matriarch of the house, and the process is a labor of love, often taking hours or even days to make,” she shares. Making a fresh spoon sweet requires lots of preparation, going through several parts to complete (slow cooking, cooling, canning/storing, etc).
How is spoon sweet made?
Spoon sweets can be made from a variety of sour or bitter fruits, such as sour cherry, apricot, rose petal, and eggplant, and enjoyed on their own or on top of ice cream. Per Xouris, this dessert is made with whole fruit or large chunks of the fruit, keeping the fruit intact and using your spoon to eat small amounts of it.
I found the rose petal spoon sweet to be pretty enjoyable, with a taste I find tough to compare to any dessert I’ve tried. In this cafe, it was served with a hot cup of Greek coffee to balance the sweetness with bitterness — making for the perfect pairing.
“To make a spoon sweet, you need some fresh, unripe fruit (popular options are sour cherries, apricots, fresh whole walnuts, and watermelon rind), sugar, warming spices like cinnamon, and something acidic, such as lemon juice,” she shares. The specific fruits that are used to make spoon sweets can also change seasonally based on what’s fresh in Greece.
History and cultural significance
Emily Caldwell / The Manual
Research shows that spoon sweets are rooted in the Byzantine Empire, where they first appeared in the haute kitchens as fruits preserved in sugar syrup. “The tradition evolved from ancient Greek and Byzantine practices of preserving fruits in honey or petimezi (grape syrup), but the sugar-based spoon sweets we know today emerged when Arab traders brought sugar to Greece in the 14th century. The custom of serving them to guests as a sign of hospitality spread with the Ottoman Empire,” Xouris shares.
The name “spoon sweet”, of course, refers to the way the dessert is served on a small spoon. In Greek, the phrase glyko tou koutaliou literally translates to “sweet of the spoon.”
