''Flaouna'' () is a cheese-filled

pastry Pastry refers to a variety of Dough, doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury Baking, baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often descr ...

from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, which may include raisins or be garnished with sesame seeds. Flaounes are traditionally prepared for

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

. Regional names for flaouna include ''vlaouna'', ''fesoudki'' (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

:''φεσούδκι'') in Karavas, and ''aflaouna'' in

Karpasia Karpasia may refer to: * Karpass Peninsula, the long, finger-like peninsula of northeastern Cyprus * Karpasia (town), an ancient townsite on the peninsula. {{Disambig ...

History

Flaounes are traditionally served in Cyprus, parts of Greece (especially Arcadia) and more widely in the Greek diaspora as a celebratory food for the breaking of the Lenten fast, being prepared on Great and Holy Friday for consumption on

Easter Sunday Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...

. They are eaten in place of bread on Easter Sunday, and continue to be made and eaten for the weeks following. Creating the flaounes can often be a family tradition shared with multiple generations. The

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

holds a record for the largest flaouna ever made. It was set on 11 April 2012 by the company

Carrefour Carrefour Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, Essonne, Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 ...

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

. The pastry measured long and wide, weighing . As part of the celebrations, 20 percent of sales of flaounes in Carrefour stores on the day in Cyprus went to charity. Flaounes were featured as a technical challenge in ''

The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, atte ...

'' pastry week episode of season six. The name Flaouna is derived from the ancient Greek παλάθη (paláthē> flado> fladoonis> flauna), a cake of preserved or

dried fruit Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed prior to cooking or being eaten on its own. Drying may occur either naturally, by sun, through the use of industrial dehydrators, or by freeze drying. ...

Recipe

Flaounes are a cheese-filled pastry commonly flavored with mastic,

mahleb Mahleb or mahlepi is an aromatic spice made from the seeds of a species of cherry, '' Prunus mahaleb'' (the Mahaleb or St Lucie cherry). The cherry stones are cracked to extract the seed kernel, which is about 5 mm diameter, soft and chewy ...

and

spearmint Spearmint (''Mentha spicata''), also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is naturalized in many othe ...

. The pastry is described as similar to

shortcrust Shortcrust is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or (in the British English sense) flan. Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue or chicken pie. A ...

in texture. A sheep and goat cheese known as ''tiri flaounas'' or flaouna cheese, that is made in the region of

Paphos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: #Old Paphos, Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and #New Paphos, New Paphos. It i ...

, is traditionally the main cheese used in the filling. Any mix of graviera,

halloumi Halloumi or haloumi is a cheese that originated in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is traditionally made from a mixture of goat milk and sheep's milk, and now, due to shortages, it increasingly contains cow's milk or milk from other animals such ...

, fresh anari or kefalotyri can be further added to the mixture. Flaounes may be served hot or cold. Depending on the area of the island in which they are made, the recipes vary so that the pastries are either salty, semi-sweet or sweet. They can also sometimes have sesame seeds sprinkled on top or sultanas interspersed with the cheese.

History

Recipe

See also

References

See also