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| I have found a fantastic recipe for Pasteli. It is from a really great website called Gourmed which documents recipe’s for everything Greek and lets your create your own recipe file! Ingredients: | |
| 2 cups of honey 1 cup of water 4 cups of walnuts, roughly chopped ½ cup of multi grain rusk, crushed grated rind of 2 lemons a little anthotiro cheese (or ricotta) 200gr of sesame seeds, browned bitter orange or lemon leaves, for serving |
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| Instructions: | |
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Combine the walnuts with the grated rind and crushed rusk. Combine the honey and the water in a pan over medium heat and bring to a boil: cook until mixture thickens and becomes elastic. To see if the syrup is the right consistency, drop a teaspoonful of the mixture into a glass of cold water. Remove from the water and roll into a ball. If the ball is too soft, allow the syrup to cook for a few minutes more and test it again. The syrup is ready when the ball is firm, like elastic (take care, however, not to overcook otherwise it will caramelise). Immediately add the walnut mixture to the syrup and stir quickly.Sprinkle a marble work surface with rose water and follow with a liberal sprinkling of sesame seeds; spread the walnut mixture over the top, forming it into a square or rectangle, about 1cm thick. Moisten hands with rose water or dip a spatula into same and smooth the top. Sprinkle with plenty of sesame seeds and press well into the surface.Allow to cool a little and when still slightly warm, use a sharp knife to cut into long strips and then diagonally to form diamonds. Serve on washed and dried bitter orange or lemon leaves.Pasteli can be safely stored for some time in metal containers or wrapped in sheets of gelatin. Good pasteli shouldn’t be hard or brittle, but pliant and stringy when pulled apart.* For greater convenience, use a special thermometer for measuring the temperature of syrup. The pasteli is ready when the honey mixture has reached a temperature of 120°C.
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Read another interesting article about Pastelli by clicking here!
Pasteli is a sesame and honey sweet that is specially made for Greek celebrations including weddings. It is usually shaped into a triangle and wrapped in cellophane and ribbon. I found this wonderful article on the website Gourmed about Pastelli and its history…
Pasteli, sesame honey, melekouni
For the Ancient Greeks and the Byzantines, today’s pasteli was known as “sesamus” or “sesamites”. This sweet is mentioned by Athenaeus as being a sweet “from honey and sesame”. However, the word “pastellos”, “pastillos” or “pastelli”, which crops up in Byzantine texts, is not related to the pasteli we are familiar with but is a name for must jelly. “Sesamus” was the sweet offered to a bride following the wedding ceremony, as honey and sesame were symbols of fertility.
Many centuries later, as noted by Adamantios Korais, “sesamus” became the Turkish “susam-halvas”. From Kythnos to Andros and from Sinope in Pontus to Cyprus, pasteli – apart from its main ingredients, that is, honey and sesame – usually also contains almonds or walnuts. Even today on a number of islands, it is served on the leaves of the bitter orange tree, a custom dating back to Byzantine times.These days, pasteli is known as “melekouni” on Rhodes whereas on Karpathos and in other areas it is called “sesamomeli” (i.e., sesame-honey), and is prepared on all festive occasions. However, it holds a special place at weddings, just as it did centuries ago. On Rhodes, it’s mainly used to accompany the wedding invitations. Even today, it is still served in woven baskets on the day the bride-to-be prepares the bridal bed, as well as on the day of the ceremony, following the nuptuals. The same custom is observed on Siphnos where it is offered along with the bonbonieri.
Related recipes: Pasteli from Andros
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