Greek traditional sweets are the best ambassadors of the area they are produced; the akanes made in Serres is a delicacy that represents the city’s cuisine for those with a sweet tooth.
The trademark sweet is almost 100 years old. In fact akanes are so strongly connected with the city of Serres that the locals are referred to as akanes by outsiders.
The roundish, small sweet resembles the loukoumi as it is covered with powdered sugar, but similarities end there. It is made of a mush prepared with sugarcane, nuts, fresh aromatic butter and water from Mount Lailias.
It is said that the mountain water, which is cooler and lighter, adds to the softness and deliciousness of akanes. Fresh butter is also essential. The rest is in the technique of the chef.
The recipe is simple: the mush is boiled in large cauldrons over a strong fire, while the maker stirs the the mixture continuously with a large ladle. Up to the point when the mixture has the right texture.
It is not a loukoumi
Aristides Roubos is the 50-year-old owner of an old shop that makes the famous delicacy. It was established 80 years ago by his grandfather, Aristides Roubos. It is common for Greek fathers to give their first-born son the name of their own father. The young Aristides, loyal to tradition, continues his father’s and grandfather’s business with enthusiasm.
Roubos spoke to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) about the famous Greek sweet. Even though it looks looks like a loukoumi or a Turkish delight, he says, it has a different taste. It is soft, filled with nuts, so sweet in taste, that “fills the mouth, causing an explosion of taste sensations.”
“You can never eat just one,” he says. “Akanes is made with butter, while loukoumi has aroma and color. The akanes of Serres go back many years. Even to this day, the sweet “identifies” the people of Serres. In every corner of Greece, but also abroad, they call us, the people of Serres, Akanes!”
The history of the akanes
According to historical records, akanes is an evolution of Helva-I Hakani, which translates as halva of the princes from Hakan. This special sweet is said to have been prepared from the 15th to the 18th century in the kitchens of the Ottoman palaces.
The story of the Greek sweet is a family story for Roubos. “My grandfather, Aristides Roubos, was the first to start making akanes in Serres. He worked as a minion for Turkish officers. There he learned the art of making akanes and then continued it with his own workshop on the Lailias mountain,” he explains.
The story of the akanes is entwined with the history of Serres and Macedonia. “During the Turkish rule,” Roubos continues, “the nobles and the Turkish princes used the mountain of Lailias as an observation point. Akanes “was born” there. It was a nice light sweet and, in fact, the name “hakan”, which means prince, was rendered to the sweet in Greek, as akanes. It was a unique delicacy, offered only to prominent persons.”
The preparation was the same then as it is now. Back then, the cauldrons boiled over coals. The makers always used fresh butter and sparkling water from Lailias mountain of Lailias.
“My grandfather learned the way to prepare the akanes, but he modified it by adding almonds. When the Turks left, he continued making akanes, always keeping the same recipe.” With the addition of almonds, it became a Greek sweet.
A family business
The first shop Roubos’ grandfather opened was a little shack on the Serres main street, selling the traditional Greek sweet to passersby. “When the Bulgarians came to the city [1912-1913] they wanted to make him a Bulgarian citizen. He refused, so they burned his shack with the akanes, as well as his house. After that, he was forced to go up to Lailias mountain to continue making them,” Roubos recounts.
Fifty years later, the akanes tradition for the Roubos family continued with a big shop on Eleftherias Square, Serres’ main square. Kostas Roubos, the 84-year father of Aristides, is a popular figure in Serres, as everyone knows “Mr. Kostas.”
“I remember myself as a small child in the akanes shop,” Kostas Roubos says to AMNA. He is a vigorous man, doing joyfully the work he loves. “I started working at age 15. My father wanted me to study, but I only made it made it to the 3rd year of high school. I didn’t do very well at school. My mind was at making akanes.”
“So, my dad said, “You start work tomorrow”. He took me by the hand and we came to the shop. Since then I haven’t missed a day. Seventy whole years. There was not a single day when I said: I can’t do akanes anymore. If I stay at home I will get ill,” Mr. Kostas says.
For Mr. Kostas, making akanes is the secret to longevity. If anything, it is a sweet life, as he says. After all, his father passed away at age 94, and that says something. And as Mr. Kostas says, “the akanes sweetens the mouth and warms the heart.”
The secrets of making akanes
Making akanes is a ritual for 50-year-old Aristides Roubos. “The akanes maker must be endowed with patience and endurance. It requires standing and stirring for hours. Many Sundays and afternoons are sacrificed. You have to love it to do it,” he points out.
The preparation of he Greek sweet has evolved, as it has moved from cauldrons and coals to kettles and electricity: “For the last 30 years, it has been done in large 120 kg vats, which work with electricity. The ingredients we use are mainly pure goat butter, straight from the producers, white sugar, corn starch, water and roasted almonds. All this is put into the big vats, slowly mixing and boiling for about five hours.”
And Roubos continues: “This large mass of akanes is put into special molds and cooled with cold air, now with the use of air conditioners. Then it is turned upside down to come out of the mold and sprinkled with many kilograms of powdered sugar. A vat of 120 kg of akane gives about 3000 akanes at a time, which almost “disappear” every day, since they sell out,” he notes.
No maker in Serres gives away his own recipe. As Aristides Roubos says, “While the ingredients are known, the secret is in the dosage you will put in 100 kg: how much sugar, how much starch, how many almonds, how much water. That is, if you put a lot of water it will come out watery, but if you put a little it will come out hard,” he explains.
Akanes travel all over Greece
The akanes of Serres travel all over Greece. They are offered at weddings or christenings, while they continue to be a dessert for prominent persons. As Roubos says, “Akanes are known all over Greece. We sent them to schools, ministries, weddings and baptisms. We have proposals for partnerships from abroad, but we ship abroad only for private use. We send by courier so that the akanes always arrive fresh.”
The Akanes of Lailias Roubos, as is the name of the family shop, is a multi-awarded Greek sweet for 100 years now. It has many distinctions over time, winning medals in exhibitions.
“In Serres, we are all identified with akanes,” the younger Roubos say. “When I was serving in the army and they heard that I am from Serres, my officers asked me for an akanes. I gave them some and they gave me a leave in return. I will never forget this.”
