1.
Feta
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Feta is a brined curd white cheese made in Greece from sheeps milk, or from a mixture of sheep and goats milk. Similar brined white cheeses produced in Europe are often partly or wholly of cows milk. It is an aged cheese, commonly produced in blocks. Feta is used as a cheese, as well as in salads. Most notable is its use in the popular phyllo-based dishes spanakopita and tyropita, or served with olive oil or olives. It can also be served cooked or grilled, as part of a sandwich, in omelettes, since 2002, feta has been a protected designation of origin product in the European Union. However, similar white-brined cheeses are found in the Eastern Mediterranean, feta is a soft brined white cheese with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. It is usually formed into blocks, which are submerged in brine. Its flavor is tangy and salty, ranging from mild to sharp and its maximum moisture is 56%, its minimum fat content in dry matter is 43%, and its pH usually ranges from 4.4 to 4.6. Feta is traditionally categorized into firm and soft varieties, the firm variety is tangier and considered higher quality. The soft variety is almost soft enough to be spreadable, mostly used in pies, when sliced, feta always produces a varying amount of trímma, crumble, which is also used in pies, trímma is not sellable and is usually given away for free upon request. High-quality feta should have a creamy texture when sampled, and aromas of ewes milk, butter, in the mouth it is tangy, slightly salty, and mildly sour, with a spicy finish that recalls pepper and ginger, as well as a hint of sweetness. Traditionally, feta is produced using only whole sheeps milk, or a blend of sheeps, the milk may be pasteurized or not, but most producers now use pasteurized milk. When the pasteurized milk has cooled to approximately 35 °C, rennet is added, the compacted curds are then cut up and placed in a special mould or a cloth bag to allow the whey to drain. Feta dries relatively quickly even when refrigerated, if stored for longer than a week, cheese made from sheeps/goats milk was a common food in ancient Greece and an integral component of later Greek gastronomy. Feta cheese, specifically, is first recorded in the Byzantine Empire under the name prósphatos, and was produced by the Cretans and the Vlachs of Thessaly. In the late 15th century, an Italian visitor to Candia, Pietro Casola, describes the marketing of feta, the Greek word feta comes from the Italian word fetta, which in turn is derived from the Latin word offa. In 2013, an agreement was reached with Canada in which made in Canada would be called feta style cheese
2.
Hydra (island)
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Hydra is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece, located in the Aegean Sea between the Saronic Gulf and the Argolic Gulf. It is separated from the Peloponnese by a strip of water. In ancient times, the island was known as Hydrea, a reference to the springs on the island. The municipality of Hydra consists of the islands Hydra, Dokos, the province of Hydra was one of the provinces of the Piraeus Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality, there is one main town, known simply as Hydra port. It consists of a harbor, around which is centered a strand of restaurants, shops, markets. Steep stone streets lead up and outward from the harbor area, most of the local residences, as well as the hostelries on the island, are located on these streets. Other small villages or hamlets on the island include Mandraki, Kamini, Vlychos, Palamidas, Episkopi, Hydra depends on tourism, and Athenians account for a sizable segment of its visitors. High-speed hydrofoils and catamarans from Piraeus, some 37 nautical miles away, serve Hydra, there is a passenger ferry service providing an alternative to Hydrofoils that runs from Hydra Harbor to Metochi on the Peloponnese coast. Many Athenians drive to Metochi, leave their car in the car park. Rubbish trucks are the motor vehicles on the island, since by law, cars. Horses, mules and donkeys, and water taxis provide public transportation, the inhabited area, however, is so compact that most people walk everywhere. Hydra benefits from numerous bays and natural harbors, and has a maritime culture. The island is a popular yachting destination and is the home of the Kamini Yacht Club, in 2007, a National Geographic Traveler panel of 522 experts rated Hydra the highest of any Greek island as a unique destination preserving its integrity of place. The Tsamadou mansion on the side of the harbor as one enters is now a Maritime Academy. The Tombazi mansion is now part of the School of Fine Arts, the mansions of Lazarus and George Kountouriotis, Boudouri, Kriezi, Voulgari, Sahini, and Miaouli all contain collections of 18th-century island furniture. The descendants of Lazarus Kountouriotis donated his mansion to the Historic-Ethnologic Institute of Greece, today, it operates as an extension branch of the National Museum of History. There are numerous churches and six Orthodox monasteries on the island, two particularly noteworthy monasteries are Profitis Ilias, founded in the 10th century, and Ayia Efpraxia
3.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
4.
Tomato
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The tomato is the edible fruit of Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant, which belongs to the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The species originated in Central and South America, the Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato originates. Numerous varieties of tomato are widely grown in temperate climates across the world, with greenhouses allowing its production throughout the year, the plants typically grow to 1–3 meters in height and have a weak stem that often sprawls over the ground and vines over other plants. It is a perennial in its habitat, and grown as an annual in temperate climates. An average common tomato weighs approximately 100 grams and its use as a food originated in Mexico, and spread throughout the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Tomato is consumed in diverse ways, including raw, as an ingredient in dishes, sauces, salads. While tomatoes are botanically fruits, they are considered culinary vegetables. The word tomato comes from the Spanish tomate, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl word tomatl and it first appeared in print in 1595. The native Mexican tomatillo is tomate, meaning fat water or fat thing), when Aztecs started to cultivate the Andean fruit, bigger and red, they called the new species xitomatl. It first appeared in print in 1595, the scientific species epithet lycopersicum means wolf peach, and comes from German werewolf myths. The Italian word, pomodoro was borrowed into Polish, and via Russian, the usual pronunciations of tomato are /təˈmeɪtoʊ/ and /təˈmɑːtoʊ/. The words dual pronunciations were immortalized in Ira and George Gershwins 1937 song Lets Call the Whole Thing Off and have become a symbol for nitpicking pronunciation disputes. In this capacity, it has become an American and British slang term. Or Its all the same to me, botanically, a tomato is a fruit, a berry, consisting of the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. However, the tomato has a lower sugar content than other edible fruits. Typically served as part of a salad or main course of a meal, rather than at dessert, it is, in the US, considered a culinary vegetable. One exception is that tomatoes are treated as a fruit in home canning practices, they are acidic enough to process in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker as vegetables require. Tomatoes are not the food source with this ambiguity, bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, avocados
5.
Cucumber
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Cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It is a vine that bears cucumiform fruits that are used as vegetables. There are three varieties of cucumber, slicing, pickling, and seedless. Within these varieties, several cultivars have been created, in North America, the term wild cucumber refers to plants in the genera Echinocystis and Marah, but these are not closely related. The cucumber is originally from South Asia, but now grows on most continents, many different types of cucumber are traded on the global market. The cucumber is a vine that roots in the ground and grows up trellises or other supporting frames, wrapping around supports with thin. The plant may also root in a medium and will sprawl along the ground if it does not have supports. The vine has large leaves form a canopy over the fruits. The fruit of cultivars of cucumber is roughly cylindrical, but elongated with tapered ends. Botanically speaking, the cucumber is classified as a pepo, a type of berry with a hard outer rind. Much like tomato and squash, it is perceived, prepared. Cucumber fruits are more than 90% water. A few cultivars of cucumber are parthenocarpic, the blossoms creating seedless fruit without pollination, pollination for these cultivars degrades the quality. In the United States, these are grown in greenhouses. In Europe, they are outdoors in some regions. Most cucumber cultivars, however, are seeded and require pollination, thousands of hives of honey bees are annually carried to cucumber fields just before bloom for this purpose. Cucumbers may also be pollinated by bumblebees and several other bee species, most cucumbers that require pollination are self-incompatible, so pollen from a different plant is required to form seeds and fruit. Some self-compatible cultivars exist that are related to the Lemon cultivar, symptoms of inadequate pollination include fruit abortion and misshapen fruit
6.
Onion
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The onion, also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable and is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion, the onion. The name wild onion is applied to a number of Allium species and its ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, the onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves and its bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. The bulbs are composed of shortened, compressed, underground stems surrounded by fleshy modified scale that envelop a central bud at the tip of the stem, in the autumn, the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage, the crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm, and various fungi cause rotting. Some varieties of A. cepa, such as shallots and potato onions, Onions are cultivated and used around the world. As a food item, they are served cooked, as a vegetable or part of a prepared savoury dish. They are pungent when chopped and contain certain chemical substances which irritate the eyes, the onion plant, also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. It was first officially described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum, a. cepa is known exclusively from cultivation, but related wild species occur in Central Asia. The most closely related species include A. vavilovii and A. asarense from Iran, however, Zohary and Hopf state that there are doubts whether the A. vavilovii collections tested represent genuine wild material or only feral derivatives of the crop. The vast majority of cultivars of A. cepa belong to the common onion group and are referred to simply as onions. The Aggregatum group of cultivars includes both shallots and potato onions, the genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion, Egyptian onion, and Canada onion. The onion plant has grown and selectively bred in cultivation for at least 7,000 years. It is a plant, but is usually grown as an annual. Modern varieties typically grow to a height of 15 to 45 cm, the leaves are yellowish- to bluish green and grow alternately in a flattened, fan-shaped swathe. They are fleshy, hollow, and cylindrical, with one flattened side and they are at their broadest about a quarter of the way up, beyond which they taper towards a blunt tip. The base of leaf is a flattened, usually white sheath that grows out of a basal disc
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