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Cheese from Greece, South Aegean Region

Krasotyri of Kos (tyri tis possias)Κρασοτύρι Κω

A soft cheese of goat or sheep milk, or a blend, from Kos. Dairies pasteurise the milk, set it with culture and rennet at 32–34 °C, rub the curd to wheat-grain size and drain it in long grooved reed baskets; the cheeses are surface-salted and drained at least a day. They then ripen at least a month in 'possia', boiled red wine lees, which tints the rind red and gives a wine aroma.

Fully documentedCheese32 daysPGI (EU, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2204 of 16 December 2019), PGI-GR-02387Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification gives no doses. A dairy needs a little over 4 kg of milk for 1 kg of cheese; farms use 4 kg of a 50:50 goat and sheep blend, or 5–6 kg when the milk is mostly goat.
Goat milk, sheep milk or a blend, pasteurised or raw, from breeds raised on Kosjust over 4 kg per 1 kg of cheese[kras-spec]
Culture (in dairies)[kras-spec]
Animal rennet, traditional or commercial[kras-sd][kras-spec]
Medium-grain or coarse salt[kras-spec]
Possia, boiled red wine lees from local grape varieties, used as it is or thinned with wine[kras-sd][kras-spec]
Starterculture added in dairies

Total time across the recorded steps: 32 days

Start
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71.8–72 °C

What changes: The milk is heated to 72 °C, then cools on its way to the tank

Step 1 of 6
Pasteurise the milk
Time
10–15 min
Set
Temperature
71.8–72 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Farm makers bring raw milk to the fold within 4 hours and heat it to 36 °C, or pasteurise it.

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

A soft cheese of goat or sheep milk, or a blend, from Kos. Dairies pasteurise the milk, set it with culture and rennet at 32–34 °C, rub the curd to wheat-grain size and drain it in long grooved reed baskets; the cheeses are surface-salted and drained at least a day. They then ripen at least a month in 'possia', boiled red wine lees, which tints the rind red and gives a wine aroma. Made in 6 steps over 32 days. The longest step, ripen in wine lees, takes at least 30 days (Single document 'Κρασοτύρι Κω' (Krasotiri Ko)…).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysSet[kras-sd][kras-spec]Ripen in wine lees
Temperature71.8–72 °CSet[kras-spec]Pasteurise the milk

What makes this one different

Ripened at least a month buried in boiled red wine lees (possia), which colours the rind and gives the wine aroma; its grooved log shape comes from the reed draining baskets.

Fat and water
At least 43 % fat in dry matter; at most 56 % water
Shape
A scored, long, uneven cylinder with deep grooves from the tyrovoli

Related ferments

Safety

The specification allows pasteurised or raw milk and bans antibiotics, pesticides, preservatives and other additives in the milk. Dairies pasteurise at 72 °C. Farm cheese from raw milk spends 2–3 months in brine before the lees. Producers test the milk and the cheese microbiologically from time to time. The specification sets no pathogen limits, and no safety study of this cheese was found. For the raw-milk kind, ANSES names Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli as hazards of raw-milk cheeses and tells pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity to avoid them, apart from cooked pressed kinds such as Gruyère.

History and sources

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

The specification cites a 2013 local newspaper article on exports of this cheese from Kos under Ottoman and Italian rule and up to 1960. It quotes a 2015 local article saying grocers and agas put unsold cheese in barrels of possia, to sell in winter or export. It also quotes a 2003 local periodical saying that foreign travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries noted Kos's vineyards and wine, whose thick lees made the possia in which island herders immersed their cheeses.

  1. [kras-sd] Single document 'Κρασοτύρι Κω' (Krasotiri Ko) / 'Τυρί της Πόσιας' (Tiri tis Possias), PGI-GR-02387, Official Journal of the European Union C 283, 21.8.2019 (2019/C 283/03)spec
  2. [kras-spec] Application for registration of the geographical indication 'Κρασοτύρι Κω' / 'τυρί της πόσιας', Product specification (Προδιαγραφές του προϊόντος) under Article 7(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food, as published for objections in November 2017 (copy hosted by agro24.gr)spec
  3. [kras-reg] European Commission, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2204 of 16 December 2019 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications ('Κρασοτύρι Κω' (Krasotiri Ko)/'Τυρί της Πόσιας' (Tiri tis Possias) (PGI)), Official Journal L 332, 23.12.2019, p. 14spec
  4. [tsigkrimani2022] Tsigkrimani M. et al. 2022, Microbial ecology of artisanal Feta and Kefalograviera cheeses, Part I - bacterial community and its functional characteristics, Microorganisms 10(1):161paper
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov