Kopanisti ( gr, Κοπανιστή) is a salty, spicy cheese, with protected designation of origin ( PDO)European Commission (26.6.2012). ''Publication of an amendment application pursuant to Article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs''.(2012/C 186/09)
Accessed on 04/01/2013.WIPO (n.d.) ''Ministerial Decision No. 313046, Recognition of Protected Designation of Origin (P.D.O.) for the Cheese "KOPANISTI"''
Accessed on 07/01/2013. produced in the Greek islands of the

Cyclades The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name ...

in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

such as

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; el, Μύκονος ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants according to th ...

Tinos Tinos ( el, Τήνος ) is a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea. It is located in the Cyclades archipelago. The closest islands are Andros, Delos, and Mykonos. It has a land area of and a 2011 census population of 8,636 inhabitants. Tinos ...

Andros Andros ( el, Άνδρος, ) is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, about southeast of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . It is for the most part mountainous, with many ...

Syros Syros ( el, Σύρος ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and it has 21,507 inhabitants (2011 census). The largest towns are Ermoupoli, An ...

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

etc.; it has been produced in Mykonos for more than 300 years. It owes its special peppery and spicy taste to rapid and extensive lipolysis and proteolysis caused by abundant microbial growth encouraged by repeated kneadings performed during the ripening process. In

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

it is known as ''kopanisti peyniri'' or ''acı peynir'' (kopanisti cheese and bitter cheese, respectively, in Turkish), and is traditionally made in

Çeşme Çeşme () is a coastal town and the administrative centre of the district of the same name in Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula that also carries the same name and that extends inland to form a whole with the ...

and

Karaburun Karaburun ( el, Αχιρλί, Achirlí) is a district and the center town of the same district in Turkey's İzmir Province. The district area roughly corresponds to the peninsula of the same name (Karaburun Peninsula) which spears north of the t ...

districts of

İzmir Province İzmir Province ( tr, İzmir ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 distri ...

. In Turkey, it is normally made from

goat's milk Goat milk is the milk of domestic goats. Goats produce about 2% of the world's total annual milk supply. Some goats are bred specifically for milk. Goat milk naturally has small, well-emulsified fat globules, which means the cream will stay in ...

Etymology

"Kopanisti" in the

Greek language Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), southe ...

is used to describe something that has been beaten. In Kopanisti cheese this refers to its technique of preparation: the cheese is left to age in wide-necked containers until it develops abundant microbial flora, which is then mixed throughout the cheese mass by kneading. This is repeated three or four times until the ripening of the cheese is complete, after 30 to 40 days. It is made from cow, sheep or goat's

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...

or a mixture thereof.

Preparation

Preparation of Kopanisti include artisanal cultures, derived from practice of using some of the previous batches of produced cheese as inoculum for new batches. At first the milk is cooked at with yeast until it gets thick. This procedure usually takes about 20–24 hours. After this it needs to be dried and red chili peppers and salt are added. The manufacturer works the mixture by hands once every hour for the first 24 hours. Then the mixture is wrapped in cotton cloth and placed in a cooking pot with a stone placed on top of the cheese. This method helps the cheese to get rid of extra liquids. It remains in the cloth for a week in order to mature and let the fungus grow. It is then again mixed and put in containers (traditionally earthenware) to complete its aging, which can take between one and two months. The most popular way of serving is in a dish called "mostra" which contains dry bread with kopanisti cheese, chopped tomatoes and olive oil. Mykoniotes also use it as a

meze Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levantine cuisine, Levant, Turkish cuisine, Turkey, Greek cuisine, Greece, the Balkan cuisine, Balkans, the Caucasian cuisine, Caucasus and Iranian cuisine, Iran. It i ...

to accompany the Greek drink

ouzo Ouzo ( el, ούζο, ) is a dry anise-flavored aperitif that is widely consumed in Greece. It is made from rectified spirits that have undergone a process of distillation and flavoring. Its taste is similar to other anise liquors like pastis, ...

References

{{Cuisine of Greece Greek cheeses Mykonos Cyclades Cheeses with designation of origin protected in the European Union Greek products with protected designation of origin

Etymology

Preparation

See also

References