Petimezi is a Greek molasses syrup made from boiled grapes that can be used to sweeten drinks, pastries, and puddings. It can also be used to flavor meats and has a slightly bitter undertone. Making petimezi requires at least 10 pounds of grapes and involves grinding, boiling, and simmering the juice. The resulting syrup has an indefinite shelf life and can be used as a topping or ingredient in various dishes.
Petimezi is a Greek-style molasses syrup made from boiled grapes. Native Greeks, both ancient and modern, have used it to sweeten things like drinks, pastries, and puddings. It contains all the nutrients and healthful characteristics of grapes, making it a dietary alternative to sugary jams, jellies and syrups.
Like honey and its syrupy counterparts, petimezi can be flavored with other fruits and spices. Apples, pears and quinces are just some of the fruits that quickly blend flavors with petimezi. The resulting flavored syrup can be eaten with ice cream or yogurt. Greek cooks often use plain petimezi or fruit infusions to flavor traditional Greek grape must biscuits or crushed grapes. The result is a crunchy dark colored biscuit that has a very sweet and fruity flavour.
Petimezi can complement much more than sweets and breakfast foods. It can also complement rich meats, such as turkey and venison, either as a marinade or as an ingredient in a sauce or dressing. Unlike its sweeter counterparts, petimezi has a slightly bitter undertone that complements savory foods. Adventurous cooks might experiment with simmering their favorite Mediterranean fruits into petemezi before pouring it over the meat. This sweet and savory combination is popular with Greek cooks.
Home cooks who want to try making petimezi require at least 10 pounds (about 4.5 kg) of grapes to make about 1 cup (240 mL) of sweet syrup. The cook must grind the grapes through a crusher located above a bowl covered with cheesecloth. The crusher extracts as much juice as possible and the cheesecloth keeps the stems, skins and seeds out of the juice. Packing and squeezing the cheesecloth after crushing the grapes extracts the last few bits of juice, making about 0.5 gallons (about 2 liters) total.
The cook should pour the grape juice into a large pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. After reducing the stove to medium-high heat, the cook should allow the juice to simmer for about an hour, stirring constantly to keep the mixture from burning. The juice should thicken and begin to resemble thick red honey.
The petimezi should be allowed to cool for about an hour, then transferred to clean jars. This boiled syrup has an indefinite shelf life, so cooks can make large batches of it and refrigerate it for as long as they like. It can become an unusual topping for pancakes or a staple for baking various confections.
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