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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Greece, Western Macedonia, Epirus and the prefectures of Aitoloakarnania and Evrytania

Kefalograviera PDOΚεφαλογραβιέρα

Sheep milk, or sheep milk with some goat milk, is set at 32–34 °C, and the curd is broken up and reheated to about 48 °C. The pressed wheels rest a day, sit about two days in strong brine and are dry-salted on the surface about ten times while they ripen. A second, colder stage below 6 °C brings the total to at least three months. Made in 6 steps over 3.1 months. The longest step, finish ripening cold, takes at least 3 months (Greek Ministry of Agriculture) and runs at up to 6 °C (Greek Ministry of Agriculture). Salt is 18–20 % (Tzora A. et al. 2022). Levilactobacillus brevis and Enterococcus faecium dominating early ripening, and Weissella paramesenteroides and E. faecium late, in artisanal cheese made without starter and Commercial starter of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and cremoris, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Lactobacillus rhamnosus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 monthsSet[kefalo-eu-1994]Finish ripening cold
Temperatureup to 6 °CSet[kefalo-eu-1994]Finish ripening cold
Salt18–20 %Reported[tzora2022]Brine
AciditypH 5.1 → 5.12Measured[tsigkrimani2022]Finish ripening cold
Fully documentedCheese3.1 monthsPDO (EU, 1996; Greek Ministerial Decision 313032/11.1.94)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)More hard sheep and goat cheesesMore from Greece

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe PDO summary fixes temperatures and times, not amounts. In one dairy make, 40 L of pasteurised sheep milk gave 6 wheels of 1.1 kg (Tzora et al. 2022).
Sheep milk, or sheep and goat milk · Goat milk up to 10 % by volume[kefalo-eu-1994][tzora2022]
Starter culture · None in artisanal making; a commercial blend in dairies[tsigkrimani2022][tzora2022]
Rennet[kefalo-eu-1994][tzora2022]
Salt · As brine, then dry salt rubbed on the surface[kefalo-eu-1994]
Starter: none or natural in artisanal making; commercial lactic cultures in dairies; rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months

Start
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Milk proteinGel (curd)32–34 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Rennet sets the sheep milk at 32–34 °C

Step 1 of 6
Set the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
32–34 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Levilactobacillus brevis
Enterococcus faecium
W. paramesenteroides
Lactococcus lactis

In one dairy make the sheep milk was pasteurised at 69 °C for 10 min, starter went in, and rennet followed 15 min later. Output: coagulum.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria from the milk or the starter begin to sour it

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

What makes this one different

The name joins kefalotyri and graviera, two older Greek hard cheeses. Its curd is reheated to about 48 °C, and after two days in brine the rind is dry-salted about ten times. It then finishes ripening in the cold, below 6 °C.

Milk
Sheep milk, or sheep milk mixed with goat milk (up to 10 %)
Ripening
At least 3 months; often kept up to a year
Composition
Moisture under 40 % and at least 40 % fat in dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • Artisanal KefalogravieraRennet only, no starter culture (studied from Samarina, Grevena)
  • Dairy KefalogravieraPasteurised milk and a commercial starter

Safety

In artisanal Kefalograviera made without starter, sampled early and late in ripening, Staphylococcus aureus stayed below 2 log CFU/g, and E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella were absent.

History and sources

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

The PDO registration of 1994 says Kefalograviera came into production in the decades before, and had already become widely known in Greece. By the early 2020s it was one of the most common Greek cheeses, at about 3000 tonnes a year.

  1. [kefalo-eu-1994] Greek Ministry of Agriculture, Application for registration of the PDO Kefalograviera (summary of Ministerial Decision 313032/11.1.94), eAmbrosia attachment 74284 (EN; Greek original 63206)spec
  2. [tzora2022] Tzora A. et al. 2022, Impact of an omega-3-enriched sheep diet on the microbiota and chemical composition of Kefalograviera cheese, Foods 11:843, doi:10.3390/foods11060843paper
  3. [tsigkrimani2022] Tsigkrimani M. et al. 2022, Microbial ecology of artisanal Feta and Kefalograviera cheeses, Part I, Microorganisms 10:161, doi:10.3390/microorganisms10010161paper