Clear spirit distilled from grape pomace left after the wine press, usually around forty percent, drunk cold and neat. In Crete it arrives free at the end of a meal, with a plate of fruit or a spoon sweet.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Tsikoudia is what Cretans call the pomace spirit the rest of Greece knows as tsipouro. It is distilled in autumn, when the rakokazana, the village stills, fire up between October and December and turn the pressed grape skins into spirit. The distilling becomes a party in its own right, with roast meat, chestnuts and lyra music around the copper still. Unlike ouzo it takes no anise, which is why it tastes of grape rather than liquorice. Refusing the free glass at the end of a Heraklion meal is possible but nobody will understand why you are doing it.
Tip from the editors. Never mix it. If the spirit is harsh enough to need mixing, it was distilled badly and no addition will fix it.
Peskesi is the Cretan kitchen Heraklion gets judged by, rebuilding near-lost island recipes with produce grown on the restaurant's own farm.
Signature: Sfakiano lamb, Dolmadakia, Carob mousse
Order: Sfakiano lamb, then the carob mousse to finish
Tip: Ask for the olive oil tasting. The kitchen is supplied by its own farm at Haraso, and the oils are poured alongside rusk.
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