Melomakarona are traditional Greek Christmas cookies.

The word 'melomakarona' comes from the word'meli' and the word'makaroni'.Meli means honey in Greek.As for the word makaroni, this is related to the word'makaronia' which was used in the Middle Ages. Makaronia was the funeral supper, during which the relatives paid their last respects to the deceased.

The word 'makaronia' has its roots in Ancient Greece.In the Greek antiquity, the relatives gave a piece of pie, called 'makaria' to the people after the funeral . Over the years, housewives have gradually added  a lot of sweet syrup and honey to turn them into today's melomakarona. The fragrant melomakarona are called finikia in Asia Minor.

Latins used the word makaronia as maccarone which ended up meaning a kind of spaghetti.In Middle Ages English and French people adopted the word and created 'macaroons', the world famous almond cookies.

Honey, which is a basic ingredient in melomakarona, was a symbol of prosperity and creativity in Ancient Greece.Still today, honey symbolises for Greek people all the good things that we want the New Year to bring.

We hope that you'll find our information useful and after seeing our presentation, you'll try making some melomakarona you, too!

The Greek team