Turkish delights of Livadara

The traditional Syrian Turkish delight is its emblematic product Syros. One of the oldest and most historic businesses of the island is A. & V. Livadaras, which for almost a century has been producing traditional Syrian loukoumia, halva pies, other confectionery and ice cream.

The craft was set up in 1923 by Antonis Livadaras - grandfather of the current owners - and very quickly distinguished himself as in 1933 at the Thessaloniki Exhibition and in 1936 at the Pan-Cycladic Exhibition of Traditional Products, he was awarded gold prizes.

When Mr. Antonis retired his two sons continued the paternal tradition. The big change was made by the third generation - the current one - who in 1984 took the reins of the craft in their hands and created the business in the form that exists today. Its equipment was modernized while a very beautiful gas station was created on the waterfront of Ermoupolis and many collaborations in Greece (supplier Sklavenitis) and abroad.

Antonis Livadaras, grandson of the founder of the craft, informed us:

"We got the art from my grandfather. Our Turkish delights are different from all the others, produced in Greece, in that they do not contain glucose. Also, the raw materials we use are of excellent quality and very expensive. The aromatic substances that we put in the Turkish delights are supplied from France and Switzerland. The bergamot aroma, for example, costs us 125 euros per kilo and the mandarin 180 euros per kilo, while the mastic from Chios It costs about 140 euros per kilo, while many of our competitors use mastic oil, which is much cheaper.

Until 2010 our business Livadara had an upward trend. With the onset of the financial crisis, domestic demand fell by around 40%. Although the main commercial activity of the company remains the domestic market, we have focused on exports and export about 2,5 tons more than once a month, to France, Paris and Marseille. We also export to Canada, America, England. Another export industry that has just opened but is of great interest is cruise ships. We give Turkish delights to thirty-five cruise ships with flags from all over the world!

As in Turkish delight, so in life we ​​follow the tried and tested recipe of the grandfather who said that to stay on top you have to respect tradition and serve quality".