So wonderfully tasty and hugely nutritious, Dakos is my favourite Summer Lunch. If you visit Crete, and in particular the west of Crete, you will find this on the menu along with the more famous Greek Salad.
Our Dakos are hand-made by our friends in Chania using only the purest ingredients, no artificial additives or preservatives.
At first the Dakos may seem strange and exceptionally hard, but it needs to be moistened either with a sprinkling of water or a dash of XV Olive Oil (the more, the softer) and then topped with ripe tomatoes (try grating the tomato), our creamy Myzithra sheep cheese (or Feta if you can't get your hands on Myzithra), more XV Olive Oil, and our pungent Cretan Oregano. You could also add capers or olives for garnish.
See our video below (but probably don't wet the Dakos as much as my daughter does in the video!)
Traditionally. families in Crete would make Dakos on a yearly basis, just after the harvest. They would then be stored and re-hydrated when needed.
As well as being delicious and so good for your digestive system, the Dakos is packed with vitamin B, Barley helps to lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, and regulates the population of gut bacteria. Like much of the food in the traditional Cretan Diet, Dakos Salad has so many health benefits. More ...
Tips: Make sure your tomatoes are ripe and full of flavour. Cretan cookery is very simple, austere even. It focusses on the exceptional quality and flavour of pure ingredients, which is not always easy to replicate away from the Mediterranean sun.
Recipe
Dakos from Chania
Borakis Myzithra sheep cheese
Cretan Wild Oregano
