Every morning, Vasilodimos Theodorou begins his ritual with quiet reverence – lighting the charcoal brazier, tuning his transistor radio to the soulful sounds of rebetiko and folk music, washing his hands with rose water, and pulling his vintage 1920s scale toward him. With a melodic whistle, he carefully measures ingredients and prepares four kinds of almond sweets, each batch lovingly baked in copper pots over charcoal or in the oven: soft white or dark “tezerou” (pot-made) sweets with almond skin, raw pear-shaped ones, and oven-baked sweets that are typically served at weddings.

Vasilodimos and his 90-year-old mother, Mrs. Katerina, have handcrafted countless of these delicacies in their century-old workshop in Artemonas, a charming space with blue doors and windows. “These hands tell the story of handmade craftsmanship,” says Mrs. Katerina, a tireless artisan who learned the trade from her husband. She proudly shows her calloused hands, imbued with the fragrance of rose water. This legendary sweet – an intricate, refined specialty of Sifnos – has been made continuously since 1933 and is traditionally served at weddings, festivals, and baptisms.

The art of almond sweet making has long been synonymous with Sifnos, much like its renowned pottery. In fact, Vasilodimos’ grandfather, Georgios Theodorou, was a potter before turning to almond sweets. “A visionary, he left his family and trade to travel to Syros in the 1930s to learn how to make loukoumi (Turkish delight) and halvadopita (nougat pie). When he returned to his island in 1933, he established one of the first pastry shops in the Cyclades,” Vasilodimos says, visibly moved while receiving the Gastronomos award.

Alongside almond sweets, Georgios also tried his hand at other traditional delicacies, such as sesame pasteli, soft almond kourabiedes, sweet pastries (boureki), vanilla spoon sweets (ypovrihio), and halvadopita, which they still make today using Sifnos honey and eggs from their own chickens. Each of these treats is crafted using recipes passed down through generations, requiring not the right ingredients but also decades of experience and expertise. “Today, I won’t make pasteli because there’s too much humidity,” Vasilodimos once told me over the phone. Another time, during a summer festival in Sifnos, he said, “I’ll have to say goodnight early because I need to wake up before dawn to make ypovrihio while it’s still cool.”

Now fully responsible for the small-scale production, Vasilodimos takes great care in selecting the finest raw materials. Though the almonds come from Volos – since Sifnos, once abundant with them, now grows only a small quantity – he assures that they are the best available in Greece. Visitors from around the world are welcomed into their spotless traditional Cycladic-style sitting area at the entrance, where hundreds stop by each year. This humble space is their only way of “exporting” their precious confections.

We honor them not only for their culinary excellence but for their unwavering dedication to preserving an ancient craft with reverence, creating confections that are true edible jewels. These almond sweets encapsulate the island’s history and the sweet spirit of the Cyclades.

The 17th Quality Awards of Gastronomos were dedicated to the producers of the Cyclades. At a crucial crossroads in the history of the Cyclades, where various circumstances have limited engagement with the primary sector, the awards highlighted the exceptions – those who persist in working the land and tending to livestock, producing cheeses and traditional cured meats, cultivating native varieties, honoring Cycladic traditions, and steadfastly preserving the Cycladic way of life.

This article was previously published in Greek at gastronomos.gr.