lemóni

Lemons. An essential in Greek cuisine, lemons grow every where except in the mountains.

There's even a famous lemon forest, the lemonodásos, opposite the island of Póros, that fills the air with perfume. In the 18th century its lemons were exported as far as Istanbul.

In its heyday 25,000 trees grew there, producing eight million lemons a year, watered by an intricate system of water mills and canals. Visitors would come to stroll through the alleys in May, breathing in the fragrance of the lemon blossoms while listening to the gentle gurgling of the water.

As the lemons became uneconomical to harvest and sell, many owners abandoned their citrus sgroves; the water dried up and many trees were left to die. Some locals, however are trying to revive the old groves, and recently a local family has put its wonderful juices on the market in a variety of flavours.