Stafithkia - raisins

Ioannis Ionas in his book «Παραδοσιακά επαγγέλματα της Κύπρου» (Traditional Professions of Cyprus) mentions that often raisins were produced in the vineyard to avoid transportation and injury to the fruit. In the vineyard, after having cleaned an area of weeds, they would spread the grapes either on clothes or on a layer of vine leaves. Using vine twigs, they would light a fire and collect the ashes to make alusivan [alisiva, ash-water]. They would add two, three or more handfuls of ash to a pot of water which was boiling over a fire, and then with the aid of a basket they would dip the grapes in bunches into the hot alusivan, and a solution of water and oil. When the grapes were removed, they would lay them out in the sun to gradually dry. In later years, the hot alusivan was replaced by a hot potash solution. The grapes were exposed to the sun for a few days το dry out and become raisins. The raisins were shaken to separate from the bunches, which had to be removed. Then, the raisins were ready and could be stored in small cloth bags so that they would be available for consumption throughout the year (Ionas 2001, 101).