In 1996, 19 cheeses from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

were awarded Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status defining their areas of origin and methods of production.

Feta Feta ( el, φέτα, ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep's milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it ...

received the same status in 2002 and Xygalo Sitias in 2008. The designated cheeses are made from fresh milk by traditional methods. They contain predominantly sheep or sheep and goat's milk. The use of cow's milk is not traditional in Greece as the nature of much of the terrain favours the farming of sheep and goats. Such cow's milk as is produced is mainly destined for drinking or the production of processed cheese. The Greek cheeses containing cow's milk that have PDO status are Graviera Naxou, San Michali and Metsovone (which also contains sheep's milk).

Cow's milk cheeses

* Graviera Naxou () * San Michali, a firm buttery cheese from the island of Syros

Sheep's milk cheeses

* Kasseri (Κασέρι) * Graviera Kritis () (may include some goat's milk) * Kalathaki Limnou (Καλαθάκι Λήμνου), a brine cheese produced on the island of Limnos * Formaela Arachovas Parnassou )

Mixed milk cheeses

Cow/Sheep

* Metsovone (Μετσοβόνε), a semi-hard smoked cheese * Graviera Agrafon (Γραβιέρα Αγράφων)

Sheep/Goat

(), the most popular of Greek cheeses *

Kefalograviera Kefalograviera (Greek language, Greek: Κεφαλογραβιέρα) is a hard table cheese produced traditionally from sheep's milk or mixture of sheep's and goat's milk. According to the PDO filing with the EU (see below) the name applies only ...

() * Kopanisti (Κοπανιστή), a pink, spicy cheese that owes its hotness to fungal growth; from

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 ...

island and the surrounding

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 ...

Manouri Manouri ( el, μανούρι) is a Greek semi-soft, fresh white mixed milk- whey cheese made from goat or sheep milk as a by-product following the production of feta. It is produced primarily in Thessalia and Macedonia in central and northern ...

(), a semi-soft fresh

whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of har ...

cheese *

Xynomizithra Xynomizithra or xynomyzithra () is a Greek whey cheese with some added milk; it is a sour variant of Mizithra, and made from ewes' and/or goats' milk. The proportion of full-cream milk is about 15%. It is mainly produced on the island of Cret ...

* Anevato (), a spreadable, creamy cheese * Galotyri (), a soft, creamy cheese produced in Epirus and Thessaly * Katiki Domokou (), a spreadable, moist, slightly spicy white cheese; from

Domokos Domokos ( el, Δομοκός), the ancient Thaumacus or Thaumace (Θαυμακός, Θαυμάκη), is a town and a municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. The town Domokos is the seat of the municipality of Domokos and of the former Domokos Province ...

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...

* Ladotyri Mytilinis (), a sharp, salty cheese that matures immersed in jars of

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...

; from Mytilini Island * Batzos (), a salty, semi-hard to hard cheese which matures and is preserved in brine * Pichtogalo Chanion (), a white table cheese produced in the prefecture of Chania, Crete * Sfela (), also referred to as "Fire Feta", a mildly spicy soft white cheese from

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a ...

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which ...

* Xygalo Siteias (), a soft cheese produced in the easternmost portion of the island of Crete

Goat's milk cheese

There are several types of cheese made solely from goat's milk in Greece, but no applications have been submitted for PDO status, yet.

References

Sources

External links

Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food
{{Geographical indications Greek PDO +GreeceList of Greek Protected Designations of Origin cheeses