Among the most traditional Greek sweets are the countless spoon sweets made with seasonal fruits, vegetables, blossoms and unripened nuts put up in syrup. Some islands are especially well-known for specific confections. In Kos, Nissyros and Santorini, small, firm tomatoes, sometimes studded with almonds and flavored with cloves, are preserved in syrup.

Unripe nuts, especially walnuts, are a favorite raw ingredient in of spoon sweets, and Andros is well-known for its karydaki glyko, as this clove-and-honey-scented sweet is known. Then there is the whole range of sweets called koufeto, which fall, albeit tenuously, in the spoon sweet family. The koufeto of Andros and Anafi is made from blanched almonds simmered in honey. It’s a traditional wedding and festive sweet. In Milos, where koufeto is also a celebratory confection, a particular local white squash variety is also preserved with almonds and honey.