Feta: it is made with sheep’s and/or goat’s milk. It is a curd cheese with salty and rather sour taste, which is aged in barrels with a heavily salted brine solution for at least two months. The name “feta” means “slice” and derives from the way the cheese is cut into square cakes, before being placed into the brine. It is delicious as a table cheese, especcially if it is drizzled with fine olive oil and sprinkled with oregano, in a salad, as saganaki, in cooking, in phyllo- based pastries. (Be warned! when you use it in pies, its salty acidic flavour may kill the flavour of the other ingredients.) It is also a great companion to melon and grapes.(DOC)
Kalathaki (Limnos island): a cheese similar to feta which is made with sheep’s milk or mixtures with small quantities of goat’s milk. The difference with feta is that the kalathaki is shaped in baskets, not in blogs. It is used as a table cheese, in pastries, it is eaten as saganaki.
Ladotyri (Zakynthos): a piece of feta which is shaped as a turkish hat. It is left in brine for 3-4 weeks, then is drained for 24 hours and is aged in Zakynthian olive oil. It’s taste is strong and spicy.
Sfela (southern Peloponnesos): it is kind of feta with sharp flavour. Sfela is made with goat’s and sheep’s milk and it is aged in tins with brine. Its name derives from the Greek word sfelida, which means slice. (DOC)
Telemes ( Thrace): a cows’ milk-cheese, which is similar to feta. It is aged in tins, not in barrels.
Tiromalama or malaka (Crete: Chania): an unmatured, unsalted very fat cheese which is made with the sheeps’ first milk of spring. Usually it is used in easter pies, sometimes in cooking and in baking.
