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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Greece, eastern Crete

Xygalo Siteias PDOΞύγαλο Σητείας

Goat and/or sheep milk, raw or pasteurised, is salted, cooled below 25 °C and left untouched in covered tubs for 7 to 10 days while its own bacteria sour it. After the fat is skimmed it ripens about a month at 10–15 °C, is separated from its whey and is kept cold as a sour, white, spreadable cheese. Made in 8 steps over 3.2 months – 3.3 months. The longest step, keep cold, takes 2 months (Katsavochristou A. 2015) and runs at up to 4 °C (Katsavochristou A. 2015). Salt is up to 2 % (Katsavochristou A. 2015). Native lactic acid bacteria of the milk and its surroundings and Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus from yogurt cultures do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2 monthsSet[katsav2015]Keep cold
Temperatureup to 4 °CSet[katsav2015][lapidakis2022]Keep cold
Saltup to 2 %Set[katsav2015][lapidakis2022]Cool and salt the milk
AciditypH 4.1Reported[lapidakis2022]Keep cold
Fully documentedCheese3.2 months – 3.3 monthsPDO (EU, Regulation (EU) 766/2011)Family: Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese familyMore fresh acid-set cheesesMore from Greece

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification describes the method but gives no fixed batch. The finished cheese is packed in food-grade containers of at most 5 kg.
Goat and/or sheep milk · From animals at least 10 days after giving birth; sheep milk may be part-skimmed to set the fat[katsav2015]
Up to 2% of the milk weightSalt[katsav2015][lapidakis2022]
Yogurt-type cultures (Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus) · Optional, mainly when the milk is pasteurised; the traditional method uses none[katsav2015][lapidakis2022]
Natural rennet from lambs' stomachs (tirephtis) · Small amounts, mainly with pasteurised milk; 3–4 g per tonne in one industrial method[lapidakis2022]
Starterthe milk's own lactic flora (traditional); yogurt cultures allowed, mainly with pasteurised milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.2 months – 3.3 months

Start
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3–6 °C

What changes: Starting material: goat and sheep milk from local Cretan flocks, kept cold

Step 1 of 8
Collect and chill the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
3–6 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
S. thermophilus
Lactobacillus bulgaricus

The mix can be all goat, goat with whole or part-skimmed sheep, or all part-skimmed sheep.

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

Xygalo is soured slowly and left completely unstirred in its tubs for over a month, and the fat is skimmed off, so it is leaner than other Greek cheese spreads. Pichtogalo Chanion, by contrast, sours for only a day and is sold fresh.

Milk
Goat and/or sheep milk of local breeds, raw or pasteurised
Composition
At most 75% moisture and 1.5% salt; 33–46% fat in dry matter; at least 31.5% protein in dry matter
Ripening
7–10 days souring, then about one month at 10–15 °C

Related ferments

Variants

  • Traditional xygaloRaw milk with no added culture or rennet, made in summer when warm weather helps it sour; once drained in clay pots (kouroupi).

Safety

When raw milk is used, the specification holds the cheese about two more months in the cold before sale so that undesirable microbes can be checked for. It must stay below 4 °C. One study found E. coli peaking in the third week of storage and gone by the sixth.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli (peaked in week 3 of storage in one study, not found by week 6).

History and sources

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

The name comes from the ancient Greek oxygala, "acid milk", a food known since Hellenistic and Roman times. It stayed a household product for centuries, made in summer when milk was too scarce for hard cheese. Dairies began selling it in the early 1990s, and it was registered as a PDO in 2011.

  1. [katsav2015] Katsavochristou A. 2015, Ξύγαλο Σητείας, ένα νέο προϊόν Π.Ο.Π. θρεπτική αξία (Xygalo Siteias, a new PDO product, nutritional value), bachelor thesis, TEI of Crete (sets out the PDO method)paper
  2. [lapidakis2022] Lapidakis N., Fragkiadakis G.A. 2022, Dairy processing, the soft spreadable cheese Xygalo Siteias, Processes 10(1):80paper