Canestrato vacchinoItaly, Sicilia
Large basket-moulded cow (or mixed-milk) cheese scalded in hot whey, sold under different names as it ages from tuma to stagionato.
- Rind
- None or clean, basket-marked, yellowish white
- Size
- 5.0–20.0 kg; Ø 18–35 cm, height 12–28 cm
- Prepare the milk
- Set the curd35 °C
- Cut and drain the curd
- Mould and salt
Casu cottu (di capra)Italy, Sardegna
Unsalted goat cheese whose moulded forms are scalded in hot whey ('cooked cheese'); made for Easter and village feasts.
- Rind
- None; white, basket-marked
- Size
- 1.0–1.5 kg; cylinder
- Prepare the milk
- Set the curd
- Cut and drain the curd
- Mould and salt
- Ripen
Halloum (Levant)Lebanon/Syria
- Milk
- cow/sheep/goat milk
Made like Whey-cooked rennet curd family (halloumi type).
Halloumi / Hellim PDOCyprus
The model cheese of the whey-cooked family: pressed curd cooked in hot whey, then salted and folded with mint.
- Milk
- sheep/goat/cow milk
- Setting
- Rennet at 30–34 °C for 30–45 min
- Cooking
- The pressed curd cooks at 90 °C, then is cooled to 7 °C and put in brine
- Ripening
- Mature halloumi spends at least 40 days in brine-whey
- Size
- A piece weighs 220–270 g
Made like Whey-cooked rennet curd family (halloumi type).
- Amendment notice for the Halloumi / Hellim PDO, OJ C 53/2023, p. 5 (seen through a search excerpt)
- Wikipedia, Halloumi
Hellim (Turkey)
- Milk
- cow/sheep/goat milk
Made like Whey-cooked rennet curd family (halloumi type).
Pafitiko tyri (Pafos cheese, flaouna cheese)Cyprus, Pafos district
Also called Παφίτικο τυρί, Pafos cheese, Paphos cheese, flaouna cheese.
Sheep milk, goat milk or a mix is heated and set with rennet; the curd is cut, stirred and slowly reheated, then pressed by hand into 'talaria' baskets woven from a marsh plant. The filled baskets are cooked for 30 minutes in hot whey, as halloumi is, and the cheese is turned, salted and dried for 4–5 days. It is made from February to April and is the traditional cheese for Easter flaounes.
- Season
- Made from February to April, when milk is plentiful, for Easter
- Rind
- Hard and yellowish, with the imprint of the talari basket
- Heat the milk and add rennet
- Cut and stir5–10 min
- Reheat while stirring30–45 min
- Press into talaria baskets
- Cook the baskets in hot whey30 min
- Turn and salt
- Dry4–5 days
Safety: The published description gives no milk treatment, salt level or storage conditions.