Local Products of Thassos

Thassos is a place where the land meets the sea, and the island’s craftsmanship revives age-old Greek traditions. Thassos householders keep the island’s local customs alive, passing them down as a legacy to the next generation. They choose sustainable production methods, respecting the island’s nature and mankind.

During your visit to the island, you’ll discover that the traditional products of Thassos hold the people’s passion within them and sprout out of the local farmers’ love for their sea and land.

Thassos is an olive-producing island with a unique history in olive cultivation. Many Greek olive groves are watered solely by rainwater. In Thassos, the olive producers use modern irrigation systems, generously providing water to the olive trees during the summer so that the olives do not “shrivel,” as they typically say. The famous “Thassos throumba” olives, the most renowned local delicacy, are a result of this distinctive cultivation practice.

The olives of Thassos also yield a highly aromatic extra virgin olive oil of low acidity, often combined with local aromatic herbs, creating uniquely delightful dressings for salads and other traditional dishes.

Venturing to an olive press on the island of Thasos offers the perfect experience for those who adore olive oil and its sophisticated production process. In fact, the Sotireli olive press in Panagia is one of the island’s oldest, with a production period dating from 1915 to 2007. Today, it operates as a museum, inviting you to delve into the world of Thassian olive oil and appreciate its history and quality from the previous century up to the present day.

But Thassos, this verdant island, is also renowned for its honey. The island’s pine forests, dripping with nectar and adorned with the colorful blooms of strawberry trees, crepe myrtles, chaste trees, and chestnut trees, present a paradise where Thasos’s bees find both food and refuge for the swarm. In an effort to sustain the ecosystem, beekeepers employ environmentally-friendly practices and uphold respect for nature, producing not just honey but other related products like propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, and pollen.

From 2000 onward, 44 beekeepers decided to pool their strengths, organizing a unified Beekeeping Cooperative for the entire island. Today, Thasos stands as one of the best-organized beekeeping centers in Greece, offering an array of top-quality kinds of honey, such as aromatic pine honey, orange blossom honey, thyme honey, and heather honey – each with unique qualities and nutritional benefits.

Thassos honey also becomes a vital ingredient for traditional Thassian sweets. Traditional Thassian products undoubtedly include spoon sweets based on exceptional local honey. The most popular are walnut, fig, chestnut, zucchini, orange, olive, rose, and quince spoon sweet. From spoon sweets to handmade halva and exceptionally baked cakes, each culinary experience on this gastronomic journey is a sweet delight.

Although mass wine production no longer exists on the island, small wineries offer a curated selection of excellent wine labels. In the mountain village of Kazaviti, for example, you can enjoy a tour that seamlessly blends wine tradition with the rugged natural beauty of Thassos.

But here’s the exciting truth: in Thassos, retsina wine is the number one choice on the table. Thanks to the island’s lush pine coverage, the production of this resin-flavored wine has been elevated to an art form by the virtuoso Thassos locals.

If you like high-in-alcohol spirits more, you should try the tsipouro of Thassos. It’s produced in the mountainous villages of the island, adhering to an age-old family recipe distilled from the stems of local vineyards.

Don’t forget to sample the local cheeses of Thassos as appetizers. Thassos feta, boasting a Protected Designation of Origin, is one of the most significant products of the island. Traditional Thassos kasseri and mizithra from local producers complete the delightful assembly of Thassian cheeses. Along with the island’s traditional pasta, they round out your gastronomic journey on Greece’s northernmost island.

In the mountain peaks, you’ll encounter aromatic herbs like oregano, sage, mountain tea, and mint, while bay laurel, rosemary, chamomile, and linden are just a few more herbs native to the island. As herbal teas, they possess therapeutic and relaxing properties.

St. John’s wort, the healing herb of ancient Spartans, is perhaps the crowning glory of Thassos’ herbs. Since antiquity, it was used for healing wounds from battles. Combined with the exceptionally virgin olive oil of Thassos, the island’s inhabitants produce therapeutic balm oil, known for its antiseptic action and aiding in the quick healing of wounds.