Your visit to Kalymnos is a prime opportunity to taste the specialties of the island. The sweet delicacies, the savory flavors and the pure products coming from the Kalymnian land traditionally satisfy gourmets, who seek them back at every opportunity.

Agricultural Products

The agricultural products worth trying in Kalymnos are:

• The famous since antiquity, pure honey
• The famous tangerines of Vathys Valley and all citrus fruits (like grapefruits and bergamots)
• The local sweet wine, called Anama

Pastries

The Eptazimo Bread (seven times kneaded bread) and the Eptazimo Cracker (seven times kneaded cracker) are both kneaded with ouzo and anise. They are products of Byzantine origin that will ideally accompany your meals as well as your coffee.

The most authentic product of Kalymnos though is the 'Krithini Kouloura' (barley bread). It is a kind of rusk that was initially made for sailors, who took it with them when they went away, as it was the only food that could be consumed after a long time without any kind of preservation. Make sure then to purchase anyway a few barley breads, fermented with anise and mastic.

Dairy Products

The Kalymnian cheeses are also great for the fans of dairy products. They are ideally combined with the Krithini Kouloura (barley bread) descrived above. Do not omit to savor the Kalymnian kopanisti  cheese, the Kalymnian myzithra cheese (either fresh or dried) and also the Kalymnian kalathaki, which is a salty, semi-hard cheese.

Kalymnian Kitchen

The sea has always been the benchmark for Kalymnos and it identified almost entirely the local life and human activities, including cooking. In Kalymnos you will find a variety of recipes with fish and seafood and you will savor delicacies caught from the clear waters of the Aegean Sea just few hours before getting to your plate!

Try stuffed squid, fish cooked in every possible way, sundried lobster tail, karkani (a salad with mayonnaise and devil fish), fouskes, and of course spinialo, an amazing appetizer which is prepared by the anglers themselves and includes scallops, sea urchins and devil fish maintained in seawater!

Also, enjoy octopus dishes in many variations: octopus dipped in ouzo, octopus grilled or stew, octopus with macaroni or octopus croquettes.

Don't miss the mououri, a traditional Easter dish of stuffed lamb that is cooked in a clay pot which is sealed with a cap of clay.

All these delicacies can take off savorily with the accompaniment of eptazimo bread, kneaded with anise and ouzo. Remember to ask for fylla (grape leaves stuffed with rice and minced meat) and mermizeli, the salad of Kalymnos with Krithini Kouloura (barley bread), oil, tomato and cheese.

The kalymnian  kitchen offers a variety of dishes and flavors that satisfy even the highest standards of meat-eaters and vegetarians in the best way.