Odysseus Elytis says in his poems: …

To fall in love you have to write poems off course, and the bergamot’s flavour explosions do pull the night away! In another poem, he writes: You bite bergamot and then you drink drink drink cool water, coffees and never ending cigarette like Greece. Along with coffee, cool water, cigarette and bergamot we can say that the Nobel Prize winning poet likens Greek identity and culture rooted in fragrances, flavour and senses.

We do know that the citrus is a native of South East Asia. The word “Citrus” comes from Latin, which in turn was derived form the ancient Greek word “cedar” κέδρος. Some believe this is because Hellenstic Jews used the fruits for Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacles) in place of a cedar cone. Citron was introduced to the Mediterranean area before the advent of Christianity, hence the sauces that I have come across point to the bergamot being part of the fruit collection in the ancient diet.

The rest of the citrus fruit family were spread chiefly by the Arabs during the middle ages and introduced to Europe by the Crusaders and taken to the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese colonists. We know for sure that Ancient Greeks had the following fruit in their diet: Apples, carobs, figs, grapes, jujubes, pears, plums, pomegranates, quinces, apricots and olives. Yes olives are a fruit. I would like to explore the apple as it has so much significance in the mythology of the Mediterranean peoples. It came to Europe from the Caucasus.

I remember sometime in the past seeing a documentary on the apple and how to this day the apple tree grows wild in the highlands of that region. Alexander the Great is credited with finding dwarf apples in Kazakhstan in Asia in 328 BC. Those he bought back to Macedonia might have been the progenitors of the dwarfing root stocks. But mythology shows us that the apple was known in the Greek world prior to its cultivation. Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit.

The Greek hero Hercules, as part of the Twelve Labours, was required to travel to the Garden of Hesperides and pick the golden apples off the Tree of Life growing in the centre. Does this remind us of another garden, the Garden of Eden in the Jewish mythology? The Greek goddess of discord, Eris, became angry for not been invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, she then tossed a golden apple inscribed Kallisti (Καλλίστη) meaning ‘the beautiful one’ into the wedding party.

Three goddesses claimed the apple: Athena, Aphrodite and Hera. Paris of Troy was appointed to select the recipient. Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta therefore awarding the apple to Aphrodite and thus indirectly causing the Trojan War. The apple was thus considered to be sacred to Aphrodite and to throw an apple at someone was symbolically a declaration of love and to catch it was a symbol of the acceptance of that love.

—Plato, Epigram VII I throw an apple at you, and if you are willing to love me, take it and share your girlhood with me; but if your thoughts are what I pray they are not, even then take it, and consider how short-lived is beauty. Also in Greek mythology, Atlanta raced all her suitors in an attempt to avoid marriage. She outran all but Hippomenes, who defeated her using cunning not speed. As he knew he could not defeat her in a fair race he used three golden apples (a gift from Aphrodite) to distract Atlanta. We do know though that the ancient Greeks favourite fruits were figs, grapes and pomegranate.

These tree fruits feature in Greek myth, on paintings on vases and wall paintings and in many references to food. The olive would be even higher in the ancients preference, but not as just a fruit since the olive tree had so many uses, as the oil was not only used to eat but also for light, cosmetics and as a great monetary unit, the same as oil dug out of the earth is used today. Fruit has always been part of the staple diet in Greek culinary culture and after a big meal we much prefer to see a platter of fruit laid out in front of us than a sugary sweet; something which we eat usually with our coffee in the afternoon.

These days, of course, all manner of fruit can be found in Greece, mostly home grown as the climate is conducive to growing just about anything. They do import some items the likes of mangos from Israel and other parts of the Middle East, but I can tell you for sure that there is nothing like an Australian mango. Summer is around the corner so eat fruit raw, be creative and make dishes out of them as deserts, make your own jam, spoon sweet and preserve the fruit for future use in the winter. If Maggie Beer can make Vissino glyko so can you.