Prekas - Traditional Products of Syros

At Syros turning from the coastal road of Ermoupolis, in Chiou street, on the street of the Old Market, in your right hand your gaze stops at a shop with an old-style showcase in front of a large green wooden window. Wicker baskets, items made of olive wood, agricultural products stacked on top of each other, while an old type inscription along the entire length of the shop window describes the spirit and content of the store. “Greek tradition in nutrition and health. Πρέκας. Traditional cheeses - herbs - wines - pastries ”.

Entering the store, you think you are in a fairytale place. In the form of the old grocery store - this feeling today only in Tzimblakis store in Naxos you find it - hundreds of spices and goodies are trapped in cartons and glass jars and provoke you, while somewhere else in some beautiful wooden and crystal boxes you find strange Chian spoon sweets such as whole tangerines, grapes, etc.

All the fruits and products of Greece organized in sections in a traditional shop of Ermoupolis!

We met its creator, him Costa Preka and we had an extensive discussion:

"I was born in Ermoupolis and as soon as I finished the military - where I did the cooking - I bought the 1993 by borrowing an old grocery store in the central market of the island in the heart of Ermoupolis and I turned it into modern grocery store with traditional products.

I remember with nostalgia the dozens of trips by car when I traveled all over Greece to find the producers I was looking for!

My desire to bring back classic and perhaps forgotten recipes of Syros and bring their materials to my shelves, led me to the thought of setting up a production unit. So the 2002 buying - again on loan - a part of an old pasta factory in a separate place in Ermoupolis with a special historical character, I create the artisanal production unit of local products".

Fifteen years later, the shelves of the Preka grocery store are hosting dozens of products of his handicraft, such as traditional handmade pasta with many flavors, fennel pesto, pasteliers with baked figs and herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, capers, crushed Syros olives with fennel seeds, herbs, pickles, but also "chips", fennel cheese and much more in beautiful packaging. Together with Syrian products other producers, such as salted herbs, herbs, cheeses with the flagship of San Michalis, Syrian sweets such as Turkish delights, xeroloukouma and halva pies There is also a section with the cream of the products of the Cyclades, without missing some emblematic products from the rest of Greece.

Ο Costas Prekas, now a successful businessman, enjoys great appreciation on the island, for his struggle, his ethos and his obsession with his values, giving with his presence courage to those who have visions and faith!