Palouzes

Ingredients

Must

• 2 litresfresh grape must, from pressed grapes

To clarify

• 80 gasprochoma, white cleansing earth, or 2 tbsp wood ash
• or simply strain twice

Thickening

• 200 gplain flour, or 150 g cornflour
• 1 tspground cinnamon
• ½ tspmastic, ground with sugar
• 1 tsprose water, optional

To finish

• blanched almonds
• ground cinnamon
• chopped walnuts

For soutzoukos

• strings of blanched almonds threaded on cotton

Directions

1. Boil the clarified must in a wide pan for 20 to 30 minutes to reduce it by about a quarter and concentrate the sugars. Skim the foam that rises in the first ten minutes.
2. Take out a cupful of the must, let it cool, and whisk the flour into it until absolutely smooth. Slake the flour in cool must, never hot. Flour tipped into a boiling pan seizes into lumps you will never whisk out.
3. Pour the slaked mixture back into the simmering must in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Add the cinnamon, ground mastic and rose water. Grind the mastic with a little sugar rather than alone, because it gums up instantly against a bare pestle. Now cook it, stirring without stopping, for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Stir it continuously and reach into the corners of the pan, because it catches and scorches within seconds once it begins to thicken. It is ready when it is thick and glossy and a spoon drawn across the base leaves a trail that stays open.
5. Serve cold, dusted with cinnamon and scattered with almonds and walnuts. For soutzoukos, this same mixture is used hot: thread blanched almonds onto long cotton strings and dip them repeatedly into the hot pudding.
6. Hang the strings to dry between each dip, and repeat over several days until a thick coating has built up. Each layer must dry before the next dip, which is why soutzoukos takes days and is made outdoors at vintage time.
7. Hang them in the sun and out of reach of wasps, which are the real enemy at that time of year. The finished soutzoukos is a long amber rope, chewy outside and studded with nuts, and it keeps for months.

Technique

• Shiraz, mavro and xynisteri grapes are all used on Cyprus.
• Bottled grape juice can be used but is far sweeter and less acidic, so the result differs.
• Cornflour gives a clearer, glossier set than plain flour.

Substitutions

• Unsweetened red grape juice in place of fresh must.
• Cornflour in place of plain flour.

Variations

• Soutzoukos, the dried nut ropes.
• Kiofterka, the same mixture dried in sheets and cut into pieces.
• Churchkhela, the Georgian relative.

History

Made at the September vintage; strings of nuts dipped in it become soutzoukos as it dries.

Frequently asked questions

What is Palouzes?

Palouzes is a dessert from Cyprus: grape must thickened with flour into a set pudding, eaten with almonds. Made at the September vintage; strings of nuts dipped in it become soutzoukos as it dries.

How long does Palouzes take to make?

Palouzes takes 30 min of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Palouzes?

Yes, within limits. Unsweetened red grape juice in place of fresh must. Cornflour in place of plain flour.

What is the most important thing to get right in Palouzes?

Boil the clarified must in a wide pan for 20 to 30 minutes to reduce it by about a quarter and concentrate the sugars. Skim the foam that rises in the first ten minutes.