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Cheese from Greece

AnevatoΑνεβατό

Anevato is a soft Greek cheese of granular structure, made from sheep or goat milk, or a mix. The milk is incubated at 18–22 °C, is chilled for a day, then set slowly with a little rennet over 12 hours. The curd drains for 12 hours, is salted on the surface and ripens for at least two months.

Fully documentedCheese2.1 monthsPDO (Reg. (EC) 1107/96; Greek ministerial decision 313060/17.1.94)Family: Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe PDO summary fixes temperatures and times but gives no amounts; the rennet dose is only "a little".
Sheep milk, goat milk or bothFrom traditionally reared flocks in the PDO area[anevato-pdo]
Renneta little[anevato-pdo]
SaltAdded on the surface after draining[anevato-pdo]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.1 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactococcus lactisLactobacilli18–22 °CMilk sugarLactic acid

What changes: Sheep or goat milk is held at 18–22 °C until its acidity reaches 35 °D

Step 1 of 6
Sour the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
18–22 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
Lactobacilli

Output: soured milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Anevato is a soft Greek cheese of granular structure, made from sheep or goat milk, or a mix. The milk is incubated at 18–22 °C, is chilled for a day, then set slowly with a little rennet over 12 hours. The curd drains for 12 hours, is salted on the surface and ripens for at least two months. Made in 6 steps over 2.1 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 2 months (European Commission). Lactococcus lactis, the most abundant lactic species found; lactococci dominated until 15 days and Lactobacilli, which take over after 30 days do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[anevato-pdo]Ripen
Temperature18–22 °CSet[anevato-pdo]Sour the milk

What makes this one different

Anevato is soured first and chilled for a day, and only then set with a little rennet at a cool 12–14 °C, slowly over 12 hours. Its PDO also requires at least two months of ripening, so it is a ripened soft cheese rather than a fresh one.

Milk
Sheep milk, goat milk or a mix
Ripening
At least 2 months

Related ferments

Safety

In a study of nine raw goat-milk batches, Gram-negative bacteria were high, while Enterobacteriaceae and coliforms were considerably lower. They were lower in curd made in May than in January (by about 3 log) or March (by about 2.5 log), which coincided with lower pH and higher lactic bacteria in March and May. The authors advised better milk quality or heat-treated milk, and suggested Lactococcus lactis as a starter to suppress unwanted organisms. Where the milk is raw, ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat such a cheese, because of Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli.

Hazards the sources name: Enterobacteriaceae and coliforms (hygiene indicators, not named pathogens), considerably lower than Gram-negative counts and lower in May than in January or March.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The PDO file says the cheese has been made by a traditional method for many years and ripens inside the delimited area. It was registered as a PDO in 1996.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [anevato-pdo] European Commission, Anevato PDO (PDO-GR-0438), registration summary sheet under Reg. (EC) 1107/96, summarising Greek ministerial decision 313060/17.1.94 (Italian and Greek versions)spec
  2. [hatzikamari1999] Hatzikamari M., Litopoulou-Tzanetaki E., Tzanetakis N. 1999, Microbiological characteristics of Anevato, a traditional Greek cheese, Journal of Applied Microbiology 87(4):595–601 (abstract)paper
  3. [michailidou2021] Michailidou S. et al. 2021, Microbial profiles of Greek PDO cheeses assessed with amplicon metabarcoding, Food Microbiology 99:103836 (abstract)paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov