Feta
A white table cheese which is stored in brine and produced, using traditional methods, exclusively from sheep3s milk, or from a mixture of sheep's milk and goat's milk with the latter not exceeding 30% of the milk net weight.
Geographical area: Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly, Central Mainland Greece, the
Pèloponnèse, Lesbos prefecture.This cheese is the most popular and widely-consumed of the Greek cheeses and has a worldwide reputation. It has been produced in Greece since ancient times (since the time of Homer). It is made from sheep's milk or from sheep's and goat's milk using traditional technology and ripened in installations within the defined geographical areas.
After coagulation of the milk the cheese curd is placed in special vessels (moulds) for natural draining and when the curd has
stabilized its surface is dry salted. It is at this stage that the desired thin mould develops on the cheese curd. The cheese is then placed in wooden or metal vessels with added brine (7% net weight NaCl). The vessels are first taken to ripening rooms where the
temperature is kept at 180C and the relative humidity at not less than 85% for 15 days. Ripening is then continued in other rooms where the temperature is kept at 2-40C and the relative humidity at not less than 85% until a total ripening period of not less than 2 months is completed.
