Gliko is a sweet preserve that can be made from whole nuts, fruit, and even vegetables. The name of this dessert is translated from Greek as «sweetness in the spoon». To make gliko, Cypriots most often use walnuts, oranges, lemons, figs, as well as carrots, tomatoes and flower petals. But you can use literally all the fruit except for overripened. Gliko can be a good substitution of old good jam, which also looks unusual: it is served with a glass of cold water.
Below you can find a recipe of walnut gliko:
Ingredients
50 unripe whole walnuts
Sugar: 2,5 kg
Water: 5 cups
Earthy water
Lime water
Cinnamon and clove
Lemon juice: 2,5 tablespoons
Cooking method
Peel walnuts and pin them with a sharp knife in several spots, then make two angle cuts at two sides of each walnut, cover them with water and leave for 7 days (it is necessary to change the water every day and to keep nuts or fruit covered with it). Then put the walnuts into the earthy water and cover them with something heavy. In 12 hours take them out, wash and boil several times, soak in lime water for 2 hours and dry with paper towels.
The syrup is made from 5 cups of water and 2,5 kg of sugar. After syrup is cooled down, add walnuts, clove and cinnamon, bring the mix to a boil and cook for several minutes. Allow gliko to cool down and leave it for 24 hours. Repeat the sequence of cooking and cooling a few times to make syrup thick enough. Finally, add some lemon juice and cook it until done.
Gliko preparation takes some time and patience, but once it is preserved you can enjoy the spoon sweet during the whole winter.
