Foraging for Flavor Greek Herbs/Bean Cuisine / Spa ... - Kerasma

soup that simmers all night in
wood-burning ovens; in Rhodes
chick-pea fritters spiced with
cumin are a local treat.
GREEK PGI BEANS
Some of Greece's best
beans are found in the
northern central regions
of the Prespes Lakes,
Nevrokopi, Florina, and
Kastoria. The famed Greek
gigantes and elephantes,
which are varieties of the
giant white kidney bean,
have been cultivated up
here since the 1980s and
are renowned for their
Beans and legumes
have always been
essential to the
Greek table.
excellent quality, thanks
to the region's moderate
temperatures and rainfall,
calcium-rich soil, and
good drainage of the terrain.
In 1996, the European
Union acknowledged the
giant and elephant
beans of the Prespes
Lakes as products of
Protected Geographic
Indication (PGI). There
In Crete, an island with countless
bean dishes, chick peas are crushed
and fermented and used as starter
in one of Greece's most unusual
are five other PGI designations
for Greek beans:
Fasolia Gigantes-
Elefantes, Kastorias;
Fasolia Gigantes-
Elefantes, Kato
Nevrokopi; Fasolia
Gigantes-Prespon
Florinas; Fasolia Koina
Mesosperma, Kato
Nevrokopi; and Fasoli
Plake Megalosperma
Prespon Florinas.
breads. They are also served forth
with fish, especially salt cod.
But by far, no legume captures the
local imagination among Cretan
cooks as much as the ancient
broad bean, which islanders savor
both fresh and dried. The former is
floured and pan-fried when young,
served raw in salads together with
wild artichokes, braised with artichokes
and peas and other spring
vegetables into lemony one-pot
masterpieces, and turned, like the
Santorini split pea, into a luscious
puree that is the perfect match for
preserved fish, raw onions, herbs,
and more. Dried broad beans also
find their place in the local kitchen,
21 GREEKGOURMETRAVELER