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Cheese from Greece, Epirus, Metsovo province of the Ioannina prefecture

Metsovone PDOΜετσοβόνε

Cow milk, alone or with up to 20% sheep or goat milk, has the previous day's whey added and coagulates at 32–35 °C within 10–15 minutes. The curd is heated, left to sour in a wooden vat, then cut into strips and kneaded in hot water into a malleable mass that is moulded and brined. After at least three months of ripening it is smoked for one or two days over local wild plants and coated with paraffin.

Fully documentedCheese3 months – 3.1 monthsPDO (EU) since 1996; Greek ministerial decision 313070/18.1.94Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

Metsovone PDO, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe summary fixes the steps and ratios, not a full recipe.
Cow milkAlone or mixed with up to 20% sheep or goat milk, from animals reared in the Metsovo area[eu-metsovone]
Whey from the previous day3–4% of the milkAcidity 0.30–0.35 (printed as SH in the summary)[eu-metsovone]
Brine18–20 °Bé[eu-metsovone]
Smoke from local wild plants, then paraffin[eu-metsovone]
Starterprevious day's whey (backslopping), 3–4% of the milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 months – 3.1 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Sour whey from the day before goes into the milk to start it souring

Step 1 of 8
Add yesterday's whey
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Cow milk, alone or with up to 20% sheep or goat milk, has the previous day's whey added and coagulates at 32–35 °C within 10–15 minutes. The curd is heated, left to sour in a wooden vat, then cut into strips and kneaded in hot water into a malleable mass that is moulded and brined. After at least three months of ripening it is smoked for one or two days over local wild plants and coated with paraffin. Made in 8 steps over 3 months – 3.1 months. The longest step, dry, tie and ripen, takes at least 3 months (Greek Ministry of Agriculture) and runs at 15–17 °C (Greek Ministry of Agriculture).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 monthsSet[eu-metsovone]Dry, tie and ripen
Temperature15–17 °CSet[eu-metsovone]Dry, tie and ripen
AciditypH 5.1–5.3Set[eu-metsovone]Drain and sour in a wooden vat

What makes this one different

Metsovone is a stretched-curd cheese that is ripened for at least three months before it is smoked, and smoked over wild plants of the area. Its milk may carry up to a fifth of sheep or goat milk.

Milk
Cow milk, or cow milk with up to 20% sheep or goat milk, from the Metsovo area
Ripening
At least 3 months at 15–17 °C before smoking
Smoking
1–2 days over self-sown plants of the area, then paraffined

Related ferments

Safety

The PDO summary fixes several steps that bear on safety. The curd is left to sour to pH 5.1–5.3, the cut strips are kneaded in water at 75–80 °C, the cheese sits in 18–20 °Bé brine, and it ripens at least 3 months at 15–17 °C before smoking for 1–2 days and a paraffin coat. It states no heat treatment of the milk and no limit for pH, salt or water activity in the finished cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked ones; the summary does not say whether Metsovone milk is raw.

History and sources

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

The 1994 application says this smoked cheese had been made in the Metsovo mountains for the previous 30–40 years. The applicant was the Baron Michail Tositsas Foundation of Metsovo, whose cheese factory makes it. Greece recognised the designation by ministerial decision 313070 of 18 January 1994, and it became an EU PDO in 1996.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [eu-metsovone] Greek Ministry of Agriculture, Application for registration (Art. 17), PDO Metsovone cheese, EEC No GR/00433/940121, summary of Ministerial Decision 313070/18.1.94 (English summary sheet, eAmbrosia attachment 73752)spec
  2. [wp] Wikipedia, Metsovone (outline and PDO date only)wiki
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov