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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Greece, Crete

Pichtogalo ChanionΠηχτόγαλο Χανίων

Goat milk, sheep milk or a mix of the two is set at 18–25 °C within two hours and the curd is left to sour for 24 hours. It is drained in cheesecloths and salted at about 1 %, and is then ready to eat. The result is a soft, spreadable, salty-sour cheese with the aroma of yogurt. Made in 5 steps over 26 h. The longest step, leave the curd to sour, takes 24 h (European Commission). Salt is 1 % (European Commission). Lactic streptococci and lactococci (about 7.9 log CFU/g) and lactobacilli (about 8.1 log CFU/g), mainly mesophilic does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 hSet[eu-summary][lapidakis2022]Leave the curd to sour
Temperature18–25 °CSet[eu-summary]Set the milk
Salt1 %Set[eu-summary]Salt and serve
AciditypH 4.4Measured[papageorgiou1998]Salt and serve

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe PDO summary gives only the salt share. In a 1998 trial with pasteurised milk the authors added 4 % mesophilic starter culture and rennet.
Goat milk, sheep milk, or both[eu-summary]
About 1 % of the curdSalt[eu-summary][lapidakis2022]
Startertraditionally none; a 1998 study recommends 4 % mesophilic starter for pasteurised milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 26 h

Start
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What changes: Starting material: goat or sheep milk, or both

Step 1 of 5
Collect the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacilli about
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: goat, sheep or mixed milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

It is a quick fresh cheese of soured goat or sheep milk, drained in cloth and salted to about 1 %. It is not ripened, unlike Xygalo Siteias, which sours undisturbed in tubs for weeks.

Measured composition
Moisture 61.63 %, fat 54.03 % of dry matter, protein 14.23 %, salt 1.02 %, water activity 0.990 (means of 62 samples)
Fat
Fat in dry matter at least 50 %

Related ferments

Safety

Made traditionally from raw milk and eaten fresh, with no ripening. In 62 traditional samples, E. coli was found in 88.7 % and Listeria monocytogenes in 6.45 %. The same study showed good cheese can be made from pasteurised milk with a 4 % mesophilic starter.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli (in 88.7 % of 62 traditional samples); Listeria monocytogenes and coagulase-positive staphylococci (each in 6.45 % of samples); Bacillus cereus (14.51 %) and sulfite-reducing clostridia (40.32 %).

History and sources

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

Pichtogalo Chanion was registered as a PDO in 1996 on the basis of a 1994 Greek ministerial decision recognising its long local history.

  1. [eu-summary] European Commission, Summary sheet for registration of 'Pichtogalo Chanion' PDO (Ministerial Decision 313062/17.1.94), eAmbrosia registerspec
  2. [papageorgiou1998] Papageorgiou D.K., Abrahim A., Bori M., Doundounakis S. 1998, Chemical and bacteriological characteristics of Pichtogalo Chanion cheese and mesophilic starter cultures for its production, Journal of Food Protection 61(6):688–692 (abstract)paper
  3. [lapidakis2022] Lapidakis N., Fragkiadakis G.A. 2022, Dairy processing - the soft spreadable cheese Xygalo Siteias, Processes 10(1):80 (section on Greek soft cheeses)paper