Soutzoukos is the iconic Cypriot vineyard sweet, made each autumn at the grape harvest by dipping almond strings into spiced grape-must pudding and hanging them to dry.
Bite a piece of soutzoukos and the chewy grape-must coating gives way to the crunch of whole almonds inside. Bite: it is gently sweet (grape, not sugar), faintly resinous from mastic and almond-fragrant from mahleb, with a pleasant gummy chew like a natural fruit-leather around the nuts. A vineyard sweet with no added fat — the taste of the Cypriot autumn harvest.
Flour-thickened grape must (palouzes) sets into a chewy, translucent coating as it cools and dries. Repeated dipping builds the layer like a candle; air-drying concentrates the grape sugars and firms the texture. Mastic and mahleb add the resinous-floral aromatics that define the island's sweets.
Variations
With walnuts instead of almonds. Made with carob syrup (a darker version). Cut and eaten soft and fresh. Flavored with rosewater. Thicker 'palouzes' eaten as a pudding on its own. With a mix of nuts.
On the Palate
Where Soutzoukos sits in the Cypriot flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 10How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓50 min active · 40 min waiting
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓- 112 min
Thread 200 g whole almonds onto long strong threads, leaving space between each.
- 26 min
Heat 1 L grape must (or grape juice) with 50 g sugar, a pinch of mastic, and 1/2 tsp mahleb.
- 34 min
Whisk in 120 g flour off the heat to avoid lumps; return to low heat.
- 416 min
Cook, stirring constantly, 15 min until it thickens to a glossy pudding (palouzes).
- 55 min
Dip each almond string fully into the hot pudding to coat.
- 632 min
Hang the strings to set 30 min, then dip again.
- 710 min
Repeat dipping 3-5 times until a thick layer builds around the almonds.
- 835 min
Hang to air-dry several days (here, rest 30 min for a soft fresh version), then slice into pieces.
