The name-day of Saint George (Agios Georgios) is celebrated In the town of Pyli on the island of Kos on the 23th of April with horse races, a custom that began during the Ottoman rule and has been maintained nearly every year since. The riders race through the village’s main road at high speeds. When the races are over people gather at taverns to enjoy the island’s traditional cuisine.
Aside from the classic dishes offered at festivals, there are many interesting local recipes which the housewives of Kos use for cooking and pastry-making, usually during religious holidays. The most common of these are pligouri (bulgur) cooked with pork, pitaridia, lasagna cooked in meath broth, varvara, katimeria, xismata, wheat bread with mizithra cheese and seasonings; afrena or eftazyma, aromatic breads leavened with the froth of boiled chickpeas and laurel leaves, kusafi, dark raisins boiled with spices, lazari, koufi, made with plain pasta, and gheri which, offered during Lent, are filled with raisins and roasted sesame or crushed almonds and kneaded with anthonero, and lambropita.
Kos also produces exceptional wines and ouzo, as well as traditional beverages such as kanelada and alesfakia, a concoction made from the island’s herbs. The thyme honey is of exceptional quality, while also splendid is the spoon sweet called sweet tomato made from plum tomatoes and the locak cheeses posa or krasotiro.
Photo: Kostoday.com
