On the Aegean islands, particularly the Cyclades, you can find capers (capari, in Greek) growing in the most unexpected spots: sometimes hanging like a chandelier from steep rocks, bursting uninvited through cement and cracks on paved paths growing in courtyards and gardens, or sometimes sprouting from dry-stone walls and abandoned buildings.
A prominent condiment in Byzantine cuisine, capers are an important ingredient in traditional Aegean cooking today. They are used to garnish salads and to contribute their unique aroma and sharp taste to many dishes. Besides being a perfect accompaniment for the famous fava of Santorini, they often appear in stews or tomato sauces to accompany pulses and seafood or fish.
The small Santorini tomato (ntomataki) is a different species which according to legend was brought from Egypt by Santorini sea captains after delivering Theraic Soil used in opening the Suez canal.
Needing little water, the tomato found Santorini’s conditions ideal for growth, and soon became popular with the farmers on the island. This tomato and its leaves capture moisture from the mist that covers the whole island on summer evenings, while extracting the maximum of nutrients from the arid volcanic earth, salts and trace elements. All this combined to produce “The red queen” with its special aroma and unique sweet taste.
Μore at Greek Gastronomy Guide…
Source: Greek Gastronomy Guide
Gaia Winery
The Gaia Winery on Santorini (the firm has another one in Nemea) is on the eastern side of the island, right next to the sea, near the airport and between the villages of Kamari and Monolithos. It is housed in an exquisite stone building constructed in the early 20th century, which used to be one of the 13 tomato processing plants on the island. The abandoned cannery was purchased and renovated... read more
Antonis Arvanitis Winery
Among the new wineries and the new vintners of Santorini who bring honour to Greece abroad with their wines, there is a veteran. Antonis Arvanitis is a warm human being and he greets you that way at his cellar in Megalochori not far from Pyrgos. At “Antonis Arvanitis Winery” one can drink the old nychteri, the wine that was harvested over-ripe and fermented in old French or Russian barrels.... read more
Estate Argyros Winery
The Estate Argyros Winery was established by Georgios Argyros in 1903. At that time his ambition was to expand his vineyard to 2 hectares and that is why he created the winery. In 1950 the winery passed to his son Mattheos, who extended it to 6 hectares. In 1974 it was taken over by Yannis Argyros who expanded the area of the vineyard to 26 hectares, modernized the winery (“Estate Argyros”) and worked... read more
Koutsoyannopoulos Winery
The Koutsoyannopoulos Winery on Santorini includes the unique Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum. The museum presents the history of wine and the life of the Santorinian vintner from 1660 to 1970 in an old and labyrinthine winery, eight metres below the surface and 300 metres long. Visitors are shown around the history of wine through the use of mobile and still reproductions, while automatic electronic... read more
Yiannis Nomikos Estate
On the country road towards Kamari, in a traditional domed complex of buildings is the Yiannis Nomikos Estate, the most complete agricultural-processing facility in Santorini. Here they process and package various local products, including fava, sun-dried tomatoes, pistachios and candied fruit. “If you want to cultivate fava successfully you must become fava yourself!” This was the advice... read more
Venetsanos Winery
The Venetsanos Winery, built in 1949 by the Venetsanos family from Megalochori, was the first industrial winery on Santorini. Giorgos Venetsanos’s family, one of the most prosperous on the island, had left for Cairo, Egypt between the wars and when they returned they bought up large tracts of land, including one in Megalohori, above Athinios bay. Built on the edge of the caldera, exactly above... read more
