In many Greek village homes there is an “apothiki”, meaning warehouse and a place where the family’s dried wild herbs, pulses, preserves, wine and olive oil are stored. In my father in law’s village, his family have a small apothiki, which has a warm aroma of dried mountain oregano, sage and bay leaves. Old wooden barrels have made way for new stainless steel tanks, which house the season’s crop of olive oil and wine. The icon of Saint Konstantinos and Saint Eleni, belonging to our family patriarch from the 1900s watches over the harvest.
In our modern, city based lives an apothiki is not always possible. However, if your pantry has some of these basic Greek staples, you will be able to make the recipes on this blog everyday options for your family table.
The essentials
- Good quality extra virgin olive oil
- Greek wine vinegar
- Sea salt
- Whole black pepper corns
- White pepper
- Greek coffee
- Mountain tea
Aromatics
- Saffron
- Rigani (dried wild Greek oregano)
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Allspice
- Nutmeg
- Bay leaves
Store cupboard
- Lentils
- Chickpeas
- White beans (giant and cannellini)
- Yellow split peas
- Rice – bonnet & carolina
- Hilopites or another homemade pasta
- Trahana
- Pinenuts & Nuts – almonds, walnuts & pistachios
- Barley rusks
- Breadcrumbs
Fresh
- Garlic
- Tomatoes
- Lemons
- Onions – ‘dry’ red or white
- Potatoes
- Herbs in your garden – fresh parsley, dill and mint
Dairy
- Greek DOC Sheep & Goat’s milk feta
- Sheep milk yoghurt
- A ‘yellow’ cheese – kefalograveria, Kasseri, Kefalotiri (or mama’s favourite pecorino)
- Large, free-range organic eggs
Preserves
- Olives
- Tomato paste
- Homemade vine leaves
- Homemade toursi
- Canned sardines or smoked herring
- Capers or caper leaves
- Honey or petimezi
- Tahini
