Cypriot food, one product at a time

To write about Cypriot food without making anything up, I lean on what’s written in the EU registers. Cyprus has at least ten food products with a designation of origin or a geographical indication, and each tells you something about a village or a district. Here’s my round-up, with where to try them. To choose somewhere to eat, see where to eat in Cyprus.

Halloumi

The national cheese has been a PDO since 2021, under the names Halloumi and Hellim. It’s made from sheep’s or goat’s milk, sometimes with a little cow’s, cooked in its whey, folded with mint and it won’t melt on the grill. I go into detail in halloumi cheese.

The cured meats of Pitsilia

Pitsilia is a mountain district, and its PGI documents define it as land above 700 metres within a list of villages in Nicosia and Limassol districts, Agros, Kyperounta, Pelendri and Fikardou among them, plus one in Larnaca, Odou. Three pork products with a seal come from there. Lountza is salted fillet, marinated in dry red wine with coriander and sometimes cumin or pepper, then smoked slowly and cold. Hiromeri is the leg, made the same way. Loukaniko is minced pork in a pork casing, also marinated in wine and smoked. All three are made without nitrites or other preservatives, and the wine comes from Mavro, the island’s most planted grape, as I explain in Cypriot wine.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Nicosia on Expedia and filter by area before price.

Paphos loukaniko

Pafitiko loukaniko has been a PGI since 2015. The whole pig is used, minced, left to mature in dry red Paphos wine with salt and then cased. Each string holds six to ten links, which are dried for two or three days. It tastes of wine and spice, above all coriander, cumin and black pepper. If you’re flying home to Britain, note that gov.uk lists pork products from the EU among the foods you can’t currently bring in for personal use, so enjoy these on the island.

Sotira taro

This is taro, a tropical plant that has adapted to the red soil of the east of Cyprus. The PDO covers plots in Sotira, Avgorou, Frenaros and Liopetri, in Famagusta district. Both the central corm, the mappa, and the small side corms, the poulles, are eaten, scraped smooth before they reach the shops.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Nicosia and pick one that fits your day.

Sweets

Geroskipou loukoumi and sugared almonds and Agros rose spoon sweet also carry an EU seal. I cover them in Cypriot desserts.

Tasting and learning

The everyday meats and drinks have no EU register entry, but each has its own page. Kleftiko is lamb or goat slow-roasted for hours in a sealed oven, and sheftalia is minced meat wrapped in caul fat and cooked over charcoal. Most of it ends up on the table as part of Cypriot meze, with Cypriot souvla, meat roasted on a spit, as the main event. In the glass, Cypriot beer means KEO or Leon, and the meal winds down with Cypriot coffee, ordered sketo, metrio or glykis.

In the Larnaca region, the tourism board and the Larnaca women’s association have mapped a traditional gastronomy route through the villages, and there are cooking, cheese-making and baking demonstrations. To eat well for less, as at the markets, see cheap eats in Cyprus. The potatoes from the red soil of the south-east come from the Kokkinochoria.

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Nicosia before you arrive rather than at the desk.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Nicosia on Booking.com and filter by area before price.