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Cheese from Greece

White brined cheese family (Feta PDO as template)Φέτα

Milk is set with rennet and the curd drains in moulds by its own weight. The blocks are salted dry and then kept under brine, first warm and then cold, for at least two months, which gives a white, salty cheese.

Fully documentedCheese2.6 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceFamily template, so the ingredients are the ones white brined cheeses share. The amounts are the Feta PDO brine strength and one study's dry-salt dose for barrel feta.
Sheep milk, or sheep and goat milkFeta PDO: goat milk at most 30 % of the milk[feta-eu]
Starter cultureLactococci, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus in one study make[thodis2023]
RennetKid and lamb rennet in one study make[thodis2023]
Dry salt25 g per kg of cheeseFor barrel feta in one study make[thodis2023][feta-eu]
Brine7 % NaClFeta PDO brine strength[feta-eu]
StarterIn one Feta study make, a freeze-dried starter culture of lactococci with yogurt bacteria (Thodis 2023)

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.6 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactococcus lactisS. thermophilusL. delbrueckii32–35 °C

What changes: Starter and rennet go into the milk and it sets to a gel

Step 1 of 5
Set the milk with rennet
Time
40–50 min
Reported
Temperature
32–35 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii
Moulds
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

the starter begins souring the milk

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

Milk is set with rennet and the curd drains in moulds by its own weight. The blocks are salted dry and then kept under brine, first warm and then cold, for at least two months, which gives a white, salty cheese. Made in 5 steps over 2.6 months. The longest step, mature cold under brine, takes at least 2 months (EU registration summary) and runs at 2–4 °C (EU registration summary). Salt is 2.5 % (Thodis P 2023). Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and subsp. cremoris, in the added culture of one Feta study make and Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, in the added culture of one Feta study make do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[feta-eu]Mature cold under brine
Temperature2–4 °CSet[feta-eu][thodis2023]Mature cold under brine
Salt2.5 %Reported[thodis2023]Salt the surface dry
AciditypH 4.9 → 4.34Measured[thodis2023]Mature cold under brine

What makes this one different

The cheese is stored in brine. Feta PDO fixes the milk (sheep, with up to 30 % goat), a 7 % brine and at least two months of ripening. In the Domiati method of Fahmi and Sharara, as used in Helal and Tagliazucchi 2023, the salt goes into the milk before renneting, unlike the dry salting of the curd in Feta.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Domiati (Egypt)Salt added to the cow milk before coagulation (8 % in the classic method); pickled in its own whey.

Made the white brined cheese family way

Other white brined cheese family kinds

Made the same way, each with what its own sources record.

Chanakh

Cheese from Armenia

Softer than Lori, the other main Armenian brined cheese.

Ripening
Aged in brine

Sources: Armenia Discovery

Jibneh Arabieh / Jibneh baidaجبنة عربية

Cheese from Middle East, particularly Egypt and Eastern Arabia

Wikipedia lists it among the traditional Levantine cheeses beside Akkawi, Baladi, Nabulsi and Jibneh mshallale, and describes it as a fresh, pronouncedly salty, medium-firm cheese with excellent meltability that can also be boiled before eating.

Sources: Wikipedia; Yasir M.

Lori cheese

Cheese from Armenia

The 2003 thesis describes it as a soft cheese and one of Armenia's most popular, affordable national products.

Type
A soft cheese, one of the most popular national products of Armenia (2003 thesis)

Sources: Truzyan N 2003

Teleme (California)

Cheese from United States, California

Re-made from telemea as a ripened stracchino-style square, dusted with rice flour and matured in paper.

Sources: Salzman M. 2019; Myers D. 2013

Safety

The UK NHS lists pasteurised feta as safe in pregnancy and advises eating unpasteurised soft cheeses only when cooked until steaming hot, because of Listeria. The pH of feta fell from about 4.9 to 4.3 over 100 days of ripening in one study, as lactose turned to lactic acid.

History and sources

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

The Feta PDO summary says the cheese has been made in Greece since ancient times.

  1. [feta-eu] EU registration summary, Feta PDO, after Greek Ministerial Decision 313025/11.1.94, eAmbrosia attachment 73143spec
  2. [thodis2023] Thodis P., Kosma I.S., Nesseris K., Badeka A.V., Kontominas M.G. 2023, Evaluation of a new bulk packaging container for the ripening of Feta cheese, Foods 12:2176paper
  3. [ied2019] Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (iED) 2019, Production of traditional cheeses, the feta cheese (IFCHEESE project update)web
  4. [nhs-preg] NHS (UK), Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese section)gov
  5. [helal2023] Helal A., Tagliazucchi D. 2023, Peptidomics profile, bioactive peptides identification and biological activities of six different cheese varieties, Biology 12(1):78 (Domiati made by the method of Fahmi and Sharara 1950)paper