I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for... Spoon Sweets

Knock knock
Who's There?
Jess
Jess Who?
Jess hold your horses and I'll explain the spoon sweet thing, 'kay?

*sneaks off to kitchen to replenish her 'spoon sweet'*

*plop*

(waits)

*slurp*.... ahhhhh.

The Greeks have been keeping something from us.  Simply put, it's a little sugary something you lick off a spoon, but what distinguishes this magical stuff from Nutella, Peanut Butter or whatever other substance the uninitiated might 'lick off a spoon' is the delivery.  I could just come out right now and describe said delivery, but I think that given my extended absence from this blog, now is not the time for being concise so instead here is an explanation of how I came by it.

*slurp*

Working, as I was, on a cooking show, you see some things.  On the one hand you see food that doesn't interest you (egg enveloped chicken as per 1400AD), tupperware products you never knew existed (flour sifter and storage in one), and bad personal hygiene habits (tea-towel wiping sweat from forehead THEN the dinner plates).  On the other, you see ideas so simple you can't believe you haven't been doing it for years (cutting chives with scissors), presentation that makes you wants to make all your dinners look fancy (stack stack stack drizzle) and then... spoon sweets.

Dessert was served and coffee orders taken when the foxy Greek hostess returned to the kitchen to chill the glasses.  'Wha?' thinks I.  'What is going on here?  This wasn't in the brochure?'.  With the glasses chilled, she adds iced water to the glass before scooping a teaspoon into a jar of white stuff and 'plopping' it into the icey water to harden.  Even before the guests offered their reviews, I just knew this was something I would like.

She explained to them that it was called 'Vanillia' and that you lick it while you have your coffee and that she lived on it when she was a kid.  One guy chewed it off the spoon in one hit and asked for more.  Another said 'mmm... icing sugar' but later revised his description to 'a mintie left in a hot car'.  I was left in no doubt from their reactions that this was my kind of thing and I vowed to track it down.

It took two attempts before I got the right thing, but that jar is now all but gone.  It is sweet, it is vanilla-ry and you lick it off a spoon, and that's a tick in every box.  An English sticker is put on top of the Greek one that says 'Pastry Cook's Filling', but the picture on the label is the sweet on the spoon.  The hostess had described it as a 'mastic', so I googled it which is where I came up with this description... which also implies that there are OTHER spoon sweets out there. 

Rest assured, dear Reader, I will not rest.