Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) is one of the hundreds treasures of Crete. In some countries they call it St John’s bread, locust bean or even monkey food (although that would probably be baobab). Well donkeys and goats like it too… My mom told me that in her childhood in Hungary it was a favourite sweet …
On the herbal traditions of an amazing lady Rosemary Gladstar who created Fire Cider decades ago, this one is a special edition with hibiscus, pomegranate, orange and the rest of the powerful ingredients, herbs, spices & honey. Whoever needs to boost the immune system or recover from flu or such might be happy to enjoy …
My new favourite home-made magic drink: water kefir! I’ve been resistant to making it for so long (I thought it needs too much care and hassle, plus I did not like the taste when I had tried). Until the realisation that I can create it to my own taste. Thanks to my dear friend Joelle for …
Greeks first began pressing olives over 5,000 years ago. In this little-known small family-run olive oil factory in the village of Vafes they still use cold-press method, combining old traditions with new inox equipment. There are not so many of these outstanding places left where hands and human energy help the process of cold-pressed extraction providing …
It’s the days of olives. And the beginning of the olive season where you would hardly miss people on Crete doing the harvest all day long for possibly continued weeks, or even months if with such a huge land. The experience can be exciting when you are a fresh adventurer, or something less wanted if your …
As soon as I finished preparing the black olives in salt (see my post Preparing eating olives: the black guys), I continued with the green ones which go though a different process and consequently will taste quite something else too. As before, we go and select the most perfect olives, making sure they are intact and no worms …
I was invited by dear friends Christina & Manolis to pick my own olives at their beautiful organic land near the Cretan village of Paidochori. Christina roughly explained to me how to prepare eating olives and this is how I followed their instructions to get my own delicacy done. Another first-time adventure in my life! First of all, …
Let’s bring in some literature as a botanical side inspiration. From an innocent post of a photograph with figs that were picked from the trees just down the road… Indeed, the fig tree was crying for me to save their fruits from simply falling and missing their beautiful destiny to provide some nurturing moments for their fellow …
Some philosophical thoughts for today from my gardening time. About 3 months ago I thought I was planting courgettes. Up until they started to grow something bigger… So what was originally planted as courgette (also known as zucchini) turned out to be my first ever homegrown squash (or marrow?). What happened then? A squash soup cooked …
