Akanes is the traditional sweet of Serres. You wouldn’t find it in any other area of our country or any other country. Optically, it looks like a small “loukoumi”. Its taste though makes the difference. What you realise from the very first moment is the taste of the fresh butter and the well cooked almond.
Akanes Lailia of Serres is the sweet you will surely take with you
before you leave.
As they say, the water of Lailias was fresh and light, and this was the most important ingredient that was giving taste to akanes.”Petimezia” (syrup) and retselia were replaced with juice of sugar-cane and “niseste”. Today, instead of sugar-cane, sugar is used.
In the above mix (after it’s hardened), there was fresh butter added, and then iron seeds. Throughout its production there was always a slave mixing the mix with a wooden dipper. When it was becoming cold, the thick mix was cut in small proportions and served as a desert.
Today noone can say for sure were the name akanes came from. Its history was lost in the era of Turkish domination and with it there was lost the history of its name. There is no reliable etymology of the word.
There is though a version that comes closer to the truth. The word “akanes” came from the Greek word “anakatevo” (to blend), because the mix needs long blending, and the word “ne” (yes), that slaves used to say.
After the liberation of Greeks from the Bulgarians, in 1913, slaves became workmen and produced this sweet in the town. Today there are 4 companies making the traditional akane. It is the akanes Roubou, akanes Vasaki, akanes Nikolaidi, and akanes Boufidi. The basic ingredients of akanes today are; sugar, butter, amylum, corn amylum, and almonds.