Traditional soft cheese (mizithra)

A traditional cream cheese from Crete demands our attention.

Use:

In salad, in tomato salads, in dako.

With all the oils such as briam, imam baildi, vlita tsigriastas and other summer oils. We can put it in the pot just before removing it from the heat, so that it melts a little, or we can “scatter” it on the plates just before serving.
The famous Chania pumpkin pie is made with this cheese. We also use it in myzithrop pies (without other cheese, to give it its stamp) but also in vegetable pies, pumpkin pies, eggplant pies, onion pies.

A type of xinomyzithra (soft white cheese) is Chania curd, a spreadable cheese, without a specific shape or casing. It differs from other myzithra made in Megalonisos, in terms of the raw material used. So, while the xinomyzithra that we usually find on the market is made from curd, which is left over from the curd of other cheeses (graviera, cephalograviera) with the addition of a small amount of milk, curd is “first cheese”, as it is made directly from sheep’s milk or a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milk.. To emphasize this exact difference, the Chanians also call it galomyzithra.

Curd has the texture of thick yogurt and the “lively” smell of fresh milk. Its taste is full, buttery, with a subtle acidity, enough to give it intensity. It is also very similar to another PDO cheese of the island, Sitia’s sygalo. As it is, its fat content is 18%, while its moisture reaches 60%.

gastronomos.gr