Food and cuisine of Leros

In Leros there is little agricultural and livestock production. There is also the production of local wine. If you look, you can find local fresh vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, zucchini, etc. The deliciousness of all of them is famous.

It is in no way compared to the colorless taste of greenhouse products and chemical fertilizers. The elders say that: “You understand what you eat”.

The local sepherds make sweet soft mizithra which is used wonderfully in cooking and also in confectionery. If this mizithra is left in the “tyrovoli” (to dry out), it becomes salty and hard and is an ideal accompaniment to ouzo and spaghetti.

Leros food

Leros is home to fresh fish in a huge variety and quantity. So, if you love fish and seafood, you must try the marinated fish with rosemary, as well as grilled octopus, Saganaki mussels and sea urchins.

Alternatively, lemony goat and cabbage dumplings are local specialties. However, the sweets of Leros also deserve a special mention, such as the “pougia” filled with bitter almonds, the “sphingos” with syrup and the patsavouropita, with crust leaves and yogurt.

To start with the food, we should say that the famous Mediterranean diet is also the basis of the diet on the island. Fresh seafood, vegetables, olive oil, etc. So it will certainly be very tasty to try grilled or wine octopus, white bate pie, grilled or fried fish, fried, grilled and stuffed squid, Leros cheese pie, etc. Sea urchins and salted mackerel should not be missing from the wonderful dishes you will try.

Sea urchins “They gather when the moon is full to be full” say those who catch them. Whether in sea urchin salad or even through their opened shell with oil and lemon, they are an ideal appetizer for ouzo, wine, or any other drink that takes your fancy.

Grilled octopus is, in our opinion, the best meze for ouzo. The octopus is first dried in the sun and then baked. In Leros one does not have to look far to find an octopus. Local fishermen dive regularly and rarely return empty-handed.

Sweets

The traditional sweets of Leros are also very tasty. The highly aromatic local honey and other local products are used in many of them. So surely anyone will be excited by the sweets on spoon, the quince, the tomato, the watercress and the aubergine.Not to mention the famous Patsavouropita of the Paradosiakon pastry shop in Agia Marina.

You will love the xerotigana (diples), the puffs that are the dessert served at weddings in Leros. The local svingoi (like loukumades) melt in the mouth wrapped in honey. A sweet refreshing drink, which is also served at all weddings, is sumada. It is made from bitter almond. All the pastry shops on the island make it and let there be no wedding. Just to be found.