WATERMELON SPOON DESSERT

Today's featured recipe is a single category of desserts, popular in the Balkans and Middle East. They are called traditional because we don't know exactly where they came from and because they are simple enough, at least as far as ingredients go, for recipes to pass from mother to daughter orally. Spoon desserts or jar desserts or glass desserts are pieces of mainly fruit that you cook in water and sugar, keep in a jar and serve on a plate or glass to visitors. A treat of spoon dessert used to be a sign of hospitality and, until the 1950s, the essential accompaniment to match-making introductions. The portion is tiny, no more than a spoonful, and because the sweet is very sweet, it always comes with a glass of water to drink immediately after eating the dessert.

Spoon desserts are the kind of traditional recipe whose history is not difficult to guess, even without being a folklorist. Their origins can be traced to Antiquity, when people served dried fruit and/or honey for dessert. But the art of making spoon desserts as we know them involves sugar, which became a commodity after the middle of the nineteenth century. Until then, it was the privilege of the rich. Some parts of the Balkans and Turkey were abundant in fresh produce and their culinary traditions evolved around syrup. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Turkish aristocracy was partial to spoon desserts from rose petals. When sugar became largely available to people of all classes and the glass industry was able to manufacture jars on a larger scale, these kinds of dessert became very popular.

There is no limit to what can be turned into a spoon dessert: all parts of fruit except the core, vegetables, petals, nuts, and even chestnuts. Flavorings include cinnamon, lemon peel, mastic, and geranium. The more popular kinds in traditional Greek cuisine are sour cherry, bitter orange skin, and early fig spoon desserts but the variety is so wide and everyone has their favorite kind.

 

Still Life with Fruit - Caravaggio, ca. 1603

Binding the ingredients takes experience but most women have learnt the art from their mothers or grandmothers. There is a small debate when it comes to measuring sugar. The Ottoman Turkish rule and the old-fashioned (and therefore more reliable) Greek sources proposed a ratio of one part sugar one part fruit. Others insist on using half the sugar, to avoid crystallization. Some recipes traditionally include limestone water, for keeping the fruit intact. For this and other purposes, early 20th century authors introduced the use of chemically-produced ingredients like glycose syrup and citric adic. Both have a negative impact on the taste and flavor of spoon desserts but they will substitute for ingredients we no longer have in our kitchens and compensate for the skill we no longer possess in cooking, storing and preserving food.

Spoon desserts are part of culinary traditions of the Balkans and Middle East but newer generations have more or less abandoned them. There is always the option of buying from a store although nothing beats 'homemade'. The greatest advantage of spoon desserts is that preparing them allowed people to follow the rythms of Nature. There was, and still is, a time for picking early figs and you could not make something palatable without fresh ingredients. Since the majority of urban, and even rural, people depends on marketed fruit these days, it's logical that making spoon desserts in your own kitchen is not so tempting as it was some decades ago. However, it's really worth a try.

Here are some tips for making spoon desserts:

• Use extra-quality fruit, vegetables or nuts and if possible organic.
• Bitter fruit skins (as in citrus fruit spoon desserts) must be left in a pot of water for at least 24 hours and rinsed before using.
• Nuts are used when still unripe, including the green outer shells. 
  
• The fruit must not be over-ripe, to avoid losing its shape.
• Cook without a lid, it helps preserve the colour. 
• Boil rather than cook, it also helps preserve the colour.
  
• Don't stir the mixture while boiling, to avoid crystallization.
  
• If you must stir, use a wooden spoon.
• Remove the foam now and then, using a slotted metal spoon.
  
• To check if the syrup is ready, drop a little on a cold saucer. It should freeze immediately.
• To stop the process of boiling and avoid crystallization when ready, place the cookpot in a basin of cool water.
  
• Keep in sterilized jars, covered with syrup.

 

With the modern concern for 'healthy' eating, spoon desserts have gained some fans among nutritionists because they are low in cholesterol since they contain zero fat. But they are loaded with sugar, which makes them a no-no for other reasons, so they are best enjoyed in moderation. Spoon desserts are ideal fillings and toppings for cakes, puddings, tarts and biscuits - with or without the syrup. The most beloved summer treat in Greece is mastic-flavored ice cream with sour cherry spoon dessert. There is noone who doesn't like it. Spoon desserts also pair well with yoghurt.

 

 

 

 

WATERMELON SPOON DESSERT

In Greek cookbooks, traditional spoon dessert recipes are grouped according to the family or qualities of the basic ingredient. The following recipe is slightly adapted from pumpkin spoon dessert made in Crete, which is the biggest island in Greece and the place where the Minoan civilization flourished around 2000BC. The island was also under Venetian & Ottoman Turkish occupation but has retained a lot of the Mediterranean character in both its sweet and savory cuisines. Pumpkin is largely used in some parts of rural Greece, including Crete. Watermelon belongs to the same family. Both need to be  soaked in limestone water, to avoid losing their shape. This is done after cutting the fruit and lasts two hours. Alternatively, I have reduced the amount of sugar. In the original recipe from Κρητική παραδοσιακή κουζίνα (1995) by M. & N. Psilakis, the ratio is one part sugar one part fruit. I have also chosen an under-ripe melon with thick skin. Cutting the fruit into sticks rather than larger pieces that are rolled and fastened together also helps. But if you have access to limestone, I suggest you do the trick. In the past, a housewive might also use quicklime but it's dangerous - so better not. 

 

I n g r e d i e n t s

1kg of watermelon skin (the white part between the green outer skin and the red flesh)

500g sugar

2 glasses of water

a stick of cinnamon

1 tbsp geranium leaves

 

M e t h o d

1. Cut the watermelon skin into squares and the squares into finger-sized sticks. Then wash, rinse, and dry them with a towel. 2. Boil water and sugar for 5 minutes in a large heavy-bottomed cookpot. Add the fruit, the spices in a tea colander, and boil without the lid for about 30 minutes. Don't stir unless necessary and if you do, use a wooden spoon. You will need to remove the foam now and then, with the help of a slotted spoon. To check if the syrup is ready, drop a little on a cold saucer: it should freeze immediately. 3. Remove the foam and place the cookpot in a basin of cool water. Then fill your sterilized jars, covering the fruit with syrup. Store as you would a homemade marmalade. 

 

N o t e

Watermelon yields the crispiest spoon dessert. It also doesn't absorb the syrup as much as other kinds of fruit do.