Local Raisins
Corinthian Raisin or Staffidambelos
It is a native variety.
Grown in the NW Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia, covering an area of approximately 140,000 hectares.
It thrives in light, deep, well-drained and calcareous soils.
It is a variety of medium vigour and productivity, as it is fertile, except for the first buds of the base of the vine, the blind and the dormant buds of the two-year-old and older wood.
Raisin of Lixouri
As far as the Ionian Islands and specifically Kefalonia are concerned, its cultivation developed rapidly during the period of the Venetian occupation, when funding was provided for the planting of this exquisite variety, which, although it was planted in almost the entire island , continued to be cultivated only in the area of Paliki.
So the raisin vine, cultivated in Lixouri, through the passage of time with the help of nature, mainly the soil and climatic conditions, inherited characteristics that differentiate the plant and the product produced.
Its main characteristics, which make it rare, are its red-violet colour and its and its low productivity.
It’s probably a different clone, where genetic identification is needed before we can speak with absolute certainty.
The history of raisins in Kefalonia has gone through a thousand waves, from its exclusion during the second French occupation from the English markets, where it was the main export product of the island, to the present day, where the economic crisis has helped the return of young people to the countryside and the exploitation of abandoned crops.