Freshly Salted Sardines

The best sardines are caught in the Gulf of Kalloni on the island of Mytilini (Lesbos). The sardines are preserved with coarse salt collected from the rocks as soon as the fish are taken out of the sea in the early morning, then they are eaten that evening as meze with ouzo, another local specialty.

These sardines can also be found in wooden barrels at the markets of Athens. Greeks call them sardeles vareliou (sardines from the barrel) to distinguish them from canned s