FOURNOS AND OVEN TOOLS

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One of the most basic and frequent cooking methods for every Cypriot household in the countryside was the use of the fournos (oven), a permanent masonry installation inextricably linked with bread and pastry making, as well as the preparation of a variety of other dishes.

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The household’s fournos (oven) was habitually built inside the courtyard or at the edge of the heliakos, the roofed space attached to the façade of the house. Depending on the type of the oven, the coals were either placed directly on its firing chamber base, where the food would be cooked later, or at a separate space underneath it. In the former case, when the oven was heated and ready for use, the coals were pulled to the sides close to the oven walls and placed in a shallow furrow called lamni tou fournou, avatzii or apovathra. To remove or move the coals, people used the mountin, a long pole with a metal scoop-forming foil transversely placed on the one edge.

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As the breads, pastry and other types of food were placed directly on the firing chamber’s base – where hot coals were also placed to heat up the oven - it was necessary to thoroughly clean this surface prior to placing anything on it for baking. As such, the chamber base was cleaned with the sfontzio or syrti, a type of makeshift mop consisting of an out of use, but clean cloth that was soaked in water and then placed at the edge of a long, wooden or metallic pole.

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Another item related to the fournos was the fournofkion, a long shovel with a rounded to oval metallic or wooden flat surface attached to the one side. Evidently, this was used for placing in and removing items from the fournos.