ΤΟ ΑΡΧΕΙΟ
The record
Every object in this shop carries an origin record you can check: region, place, material, method, protected status with a register link, maker, a cited fake test, VAT class and where it can ship.
What a pinax is
Πίναξ (pinax) is the Greek word for a tablet, and by extension a list or a register. We use it for the origin record that every object in this shop carries. The record is the product. The photograph, the description and the price all sit underneath it.
A record is built to be checked. Where a public register exists, the record links to it. Where none exists, the record says so and tells you what the origin rests on instead. Where we do not yet know something, the record says that too.
The record, row by row
On a product page the first five rows are always open. The rest sit under Full record.
| Row | What it tells you | How we fill it |
|---|---|---|
| Where | The town, village or street where the object is grown or made, and its region’s ISO 3166-2:GR code, for example Ioannina, GR-D. | Named as precisely as the supplier documents allow: Machairadika, Chania is more useful than Crete. For a PDO, the defined area in the register. |
| How | How it is made: hand-separated stigmas, wood-fired clay, hand-woven wool. | From a workshop visit and the supplier’s declaration. We describe only what we have seen or documented. |
| Protected | The exact legal or heritage status, named as the register names it, or none. | Linked to the register entry. See the four kinds of status below. |
| Maker | The cooperative, workshop or packer who supplies the object. | Named only once a contract is signed and the audit is complete. Until then: [partner to be sourced]. |
| Fake test | The most common imitation and a way to spot it, with its source. | Taken from a cited source. If the test is folk practice and not laboratory method, the Field Note says so. |
| Material | What the object is made of, in plain words and a Latin name for plants. | From the supplier’s specification, the PDO specification or a test certificate. |
| Coordinates | Latitude and longitude, rounded to two decimals, about a kilometre. | Rounded on purpose, so a workshop’s door is never published without its consent. |
| VAT class | 13% for food, 24% for goods, as applied in Greece. | Set per product. See Prices and VAT. |
| Ships to | Which destinations the object can be sent to, and why some cannot. | Set per product from import and courier rules. See Shipping and duties. |
| Compliance | The documents the object needs before sale. | A batch lab report, a migration test, an assay certificate or a fibre label, as listed under Being verified below. |
| Sources | The public documents behind the record. | Links to registers, official bodies and, where noted, secondary sources. |
| Status | In stock, or Being verified. | Explained below. |
A specimen record
Krokos Kozanis PDO saffron, 1 g, as its record reads today.
Origin record πίναξ
- Where
- Kozani, Western Macedonia, GR-C
- How
- Hand-harvested flowers, stigmas separated and dried, cooperative-sorted and packed
- Protected
- Krokos Kozanis PDO (EU eAmbrosia). Check the register on ec.europa.eu (opens in a new tab)
- Maker
- [partner to be sourced]
- Fake test
- Warm-water test: drop a few threads into warm water. Dyed fillers such as safflower, dyed corn silk and dyed threads release their colour fast. Buy only cooperative-packed PDO saffron. Source: foodfraudadvisors.com (opens in a new tab) Field Notes: How to use saffron threads: steep, measure, store, The saffron water test
- Cook with it
- Saffron pilaf with Vostizza currants
Full record
- Material
- Dried stigmas of the saffron crocus
- Coordinates
- 40.30 N, 21.79 E
- VAT class
- 13% reduced rate (food)
- Ships to
- Ships to Greece. Open zones: Greece, European Union, US and Canada.Letterbox size. Greece, EU, US and Canada, duties paid outside the EU; FDA Prior Notice for the US. UK after our UK VAT registration.
- Compliance
- Cooperative PDO pack only, no repacking. FDA Prior Notice for US orders. Autumn harvest drop.
- Sources
- Status
- In stock
- SKU
- PX-KRO-1
The cooperative sells directly and holds the exclusive right to pack Krokos Kozanis. Our contract with it is not yet signed, which is why the maker row still reads [partner to be sourced].
What Being verified means
An object marked Being verified has a complete public record, but it cannot be bought yet. It is waiting for one or more of the following:
- a signed supply contract with a named cooperative, workshop or packer;
- an audit visit, described below;
- a document the law or our own rules require before sale: a batch lab report for honey, lead and cadmium migration tests for a clay pot, an assay or XRF certificate for silver, a fibre label for a textile, a food-contact declaration for a wooden spoon.
You can join the waitlist on any Being verified object. We take an email address, no payment, and write once when it becomes available. If verification fails, we remove the object and tell the waitlist why.
In stock means the object can be ordered now. Supplier details, such as the maker row, are published on its record as each contract is signed.
What [partner to be sourced] means
It means we have not yet signed the supplier for that object. We know the kind of supplier we are looking for, and often the organisation we will approach first, but we do not print a name until there is a contract. We will not attribute an object to a maker who has not agreed to supply it, and we never caption a photograph with a maker’s name that is not signed.
Four kinds of protected status
- EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). A food name protected under EU law, with a published specification and inspection. Linked to the EU register, eAmbrosia. Example: Masticha Chiou.
- UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. An international listing of a practice, not a product certificate. Example: Tinian marble craftsmanship, inscribed in 2015.
- Greek National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Greece’s own inventory under the 2003 UNESCO Convention. It is not the UNESCO world list, and we never call it that. Examples: Epirote silversmithing (2013), Sifnos pottery (2022).
- None. Many living crafts have no legal protection. The record then reads: No protected status, origin rests on supplier audit. Since 1 December 2025 the EU has allowed craft and industrial products to register geographical indications, and we will link any registration that applies as soon as one exists.
How suppliers will be audited
No supplier has yet completed our audit, so this describes the process we will follow, not results.
- Documents first. Company or cooperative registration, tax details, and for PDO foods the certificate from the approved inspection body and the right to use the protected name.
- A visit in person. To the orchard, apiary, workshop or packing room named in the record. We photograph the work with the supplier’s consent and confirm that the method described is the method used.
- Batch documents. The product-specific papers listed under Being verified, dated and linked to the batch we sell.
- A signed declaration of origin, materials and method, which becomes the basis of the record.
- Review. Records are re-checked at each new harvest or production batch, and at least once a year. Records do not yet show a last-checked date; one will be added before the first audited object goes on sale.
The name of the person or firm carrying out audits will be published here before the first object that relies on an audit goes on sale.
Why the images are illustrations
We have not yet commissioned photography on location. Until we do, the images on this site are illustrations made to show the kind of place and object described. They are not photographs of a named maker, workshop or batch, and their captions and alt text describe only what is visible.
The photographs we plan are documentary: stigma separation in Kozani in autumn, the mastic villages of Chios in July and August, benches in Ioannina and Chania, a Sifnos kiln. Each will be captioned with place, ISO code and month, and with the partner’s name only once they are signed. When a photograph replaces an illustration, the caption will say so.
Found an error?
If a record is wrong, out of date or links to the wrong register entry, write to the address on the Contact page with the product name. Once records carry a date row, corrections will be dated there.