A culinary trip to Cyprus with this month's Kitchen Trotter box

It's been grey, drizzly and distinctly chilly since the kids (and I) went back to school, so I was very pleased to see that this month's Kitchen Trotter destination was somewhere warm - Cyprus, to be precise. Hmm Cyrpus? Not sure what they eat there, but I'd guess similar to Greece. Let's dive into the box and find out.

The first things that I pulled out looked very intriguing. On the left, a bag of sweet mint and dried onions - not a combination that I'd have thought of, so I'll be interested to see how it works. On the right, the very coarse, crunchy black salt that Cyprus is apparently renowned for (although I admit to having never heard of it !).

Two bottles came out next - some red wine vinegar with basil and garlic, followed by a little bottle of ouzo - ahh so I was right with the Greek flavours. I'm not keen on aniseed but I'll see how it works in the recipes. I always love discovering totally authentic and unheard of products so I was pleased to discover two total unknowns - a jar of spoon sweets, which are half way between jam and tinned fruit (this one is made with watermelon) and chewing gum made with terebinth, which is a Mediterranean tree formerly used for making turpentine. Not sure about that one ! There is also some Turkish delight and some measuring spoons.

On to the recipes ...

A Cypriot Salad, featuring watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes and onions.

A fish dish - Ouzo-Doused Bream.

The dessert is Su Muhallebisi, which looks like sweetened, thickened milk topped with the watermelon spoon sweets.

And finally, Elioto - bread flavoured with sweet mint and onions.

There are some unusual combinations of flavours so I'm intrigued to see how they work out. I'll be back to share the recipes with you very soon.

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