''Flaouna'' ( gr, φλαούνα), ( tr, Pilavuna, Bitta), is a cheese-filled

pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" sugges ...

from the island of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, which may include raisins or be garnished with sesame seeds. Flaounes are traditionally prepared for Easter by

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

Cypriots and during Ramadan by

Turkish Cypriots Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,0 ...

. Regional names for flaouna include ''vlaouna'', ''fesoudki'' (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

:''φεσούδκι'') in

Karavas Karavas ( el, Καραβάς; tr, Alsancak is a town in the north of the Cyprus island. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. , the town has a population of 6,597. Etymology The name ''Karavas'' comes from the Greek ''karávi ...

, and ''aflaouna'' in Karpasia.

History

Flaounes are traditionally served in Cyprus as a celebratory food for the breaking of the Lenten fast, being prepared on Good Friday for consumption on

Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...

by Orthodox Christians. They are eaten in place of bread on Easter Sunday, and continue to be made and eaten for the weeks following. Creating the flaounes can often be a family tradition shared with multiple generations. The

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

holds a record for the largest flaouna ever made. It was set on 11 April 2012 by the company

Carrefour Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, whic ...

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

. The pastry measured long and wide, weighing . As part of the celebrations, 20 percent of sales of flaounes in Carrefour stores on the day in Cyprus went to charity. Flaounes were featured as a technical challenge in ''

The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, atte ...

'' pastry week episode of season six. The name Flaouna is derived from the ancient Greek παλάθη (paláthē> flado> fladoonis> flauna), a cake of preserved or

dried fruit Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to th ...

Recipe

Flaounes are a cheese-filled pastry interspersed with cheese. The pastry is described as similar to shortcrust in texture. The cheese can be a mix of

graviera Graviera ( el, γραβιέρα ) is a cheese from Greece produced in various parts of Greece, the main of which are: Crete, Lesbos, Naxos and Amfilochia. It resembles gruyère, a Swiss cheese from whose name "graviera" is derived. Graviera is G ...

halloumi Halloumi or haloumi (, el, χαλούμι, haloúmi; tr, hellim}) is a traditional Cypriot cheese made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk. Its texture is described as squeaky. It has a high melting poi ...

, fresh anari or

kefalotyri Kefalotyri or kefalotiri ( el, κεφαλοτύρι, tr, talar peyniri) is a hard, salty white cheese made from sheep milk or goat's milk (or both) in Greece and Cyprus. A similar cheese Kefalograviera, also made from sheep or goat milk (or bot ...

. Outside of Europe, these cheeses can sometimes be referred to as "flaouna" cheese. Flaounes may be served hot or cold. Depending on the area of the island in which they are made, the recipes vary so that the pastries are either salty, semi-sweet or sweet. They can also sometimes have sesame seeds sprinkled on top or sultanas interspersed with the cheese.

History

Recipe

References

See also