Applicants:
Cyprus Food and Nutrition Museum
Anogyra Community Council
University of Cyprus
Date of inscription:
2018
Brief description:
The carob is an evergreen, long-lived tree with lush vegetation, which in Cyprus is cultivated in areas with an altitude of up to 600 metres. For many rural areas, carob pods and their products were an important source of income. The large profits generated by their exports gave rise to the description ‘The black gold of Cyprus’, which was attributed to the carob. Well-known traditional carob preparations are pastelli (carob toffee) and teratsomelo (carob syrup). A wide variety of carob-based dishes, such as terdjellouthkia or loullouthkia (cookies dipped in carob syrup), souppouthkia (fried bread dipped in carob syrup), halouvas kouvarkastos (halva with carob syrup) etc., are mainly prepared in areas of Cyprus where carob trees grow. Carob pods were also used in traditional medicine.