Some of the fruits that are used include seedless grapes, mulberries, strawberries and other berries, bergamot, apricots, quinces, apples, pears, sour and sweet cherries, oranges, kumquats, lemons, grapefruit, tangerines, pomegranates, figs, prunes, etc.

Spoon sweets are usually offered to guests served by the teaspoon in a small porcelain or crystal glass dish or bowl, with coffee or tea and cold water.

One typically Greek spoon sweet is the snow-white and intensely aromatic vaníllia (βανίλια, [va'niʎa]) which is not made of vanilla, but of mastic resin, for which the Aegean island of Chios is famous.

When cold, it has the consistency of hard caramel candy: it is meant to be licked like a lollipop as, at body temperature, it gradually becomes softer and more chewable.

Ingredients variously added during the boiling, and then discarded, include a quill of cinnamon bark, a mint bouquet, or the green, fragrant leaves of the shrub Pelargonium odoratissimum (apple geranium) or Pelargonium graveolens (rose geranium) which add some astringency and a slight aroma of frankincense and is especially popular in the Ionian islands.

They are generally made at home and preserved in old jars, ready to be served to guests and family members on festival days.