Beef Heart Bry Moist 76 Lamb Heart

Brined white cheese from Greece

For other uses, see FETA.

Feta
Country of origin	Hellenic republic
Region	Mainland Greece and Lesbos Prefecture
Source of milk	Sheep (≥70%) and goat per PDO; similar cheeses may contain moo-cow or buffalo milk
Pasteurized	Depends on diversity
Texture	Depends on variety
Aging time	min. three months
Certification	PDO, 2002
Related media on Wikimedia Commons

Feta (Greek: φέτα, féta ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep's milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. It is soft, with pocket-sized or no holes, a meaty affect, few cuts, and no peel. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brine. Its flavor is tangy and salty, ranging from mild to sharp. Feta is used equally a table cheese, in salads such as Greek salad, and in pastries, notably the phyllo-based Greek dishes spanakopita 'spinach pie' and tyropita 'cheese pie'. It is often served with olive oil or olives, and sprinkled with effluvious herbs such equally oregano. It tin can as well be served cooked (often grilled), as part of a sandwich, in omelettes, and many other dishes.

Since 2002, feta has been a protected designation of origin in the European union. EU legislation and like legislation in 25 other countries^[i] limits the name feta to cheeses produced in the traditional way in mainland Greece and Lesbos Prefecture,^[ii] which are made from sheep'due south milk, or from a mixture of sheep's and up to 30% of caprine animal's milk from the same area.^[3]

Similar white, brined cheeses (often called "white cheese" in various languages) are fabricated traditionally in the Balkans and around the Black Body of water, and more recently elsewhere. Exterior the EU, the name feta is oftentimes used generically for these cheeses.^[4]

Generic term and production outside Hellenic republic [edit]

For many consumers, the word "feta" is a generic term for a white, crumbly cheese aged in brine. Production of the cheese beginning began in the Eastern Mediterranean and around the Black Sea. Over time, production expanded to countries including Denmark, French republic, Federal republic of germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, oft partly or wholly of moo-cow's milk, and they are (or were) sometimes also chosen feta.^[4]

Geographical Indication [edit]

Countries where the term Feta is protected as a Geographical Indication

 Country of origin (Greece)

 Protected as Geographical Indication

 Protected as Geographical Indication (with limitations)

Since 2002, feta has been a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) production inside the Eu. According to the relevant European union legislation (applicable within the EU and Northern Ireland), as well every bit like UK legislation only those cheeses produced in a traditional way in detail areas of Greece, which are made from sheep's milk, or from a mixture of sheep's and up to thirty% of goat's milk from the same area, can be chosen feta. Too in several other countries the term feta has since been protected. An overview is shown in the Table beneath.

Protection of Feta/Φέτα as a Geographical Indication^{[one] [2]}

Country/Territory	Outset of protection	Comments/Exceptions
European Marriage	15 October 2002	PDO, also valid in Northern Ireland
Armenia	26 Jan 2018	Also protected as Ֆետա
Bosnia and herzegovina	18 February 2016
Canada	21 September 2017	Use of Feta including the terms "kind", "type", "style", "fake" etc. is allowed, too as employ by producers using the term earlier eighteen October 2013.
People's republic of china	ane March 2021	Likewise protected every bit 菲达奶酪. Until 1 March 2029 limited use of the term is allowed for similar products.
Colombia
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Ecuador
Georgia	1 April 2012	Also protected as ფეტა.
Republic of guatemala
Honduras
Iceland	one May 2018
Japan	1 Feb 2019	Also protected as フェタ.
Kosovo	one April 2016
Liechtenstein	27 July 2007
Moldova	1 Apr 2013
Montenegro	i January 2008
Nicaragua
Panama
Peru
Serbia	1 February 2010
Singapore	29 June 2019
South Africa	1 November 2016
South Korea	14 May 2011	Also protected every bit 페따.
Switzerland	1 December 2014
Ukraine	31 December 2015	Too protected as Фета. Until 31 December 2022 limited use of the term is allowed for similar products.
United Kingdom	31 Dec 2020	Continuation of Eu PDO, valid in England, Scotland and Wales
Vietnam	1 August 2020

Description [edit]

The EU PDO for feta requires a maximum moisture of 56%, a minimum fat content in dry affair of 43%, and a pH that commonly ranges from 4.4 to 4.6.^[5] Production of the EU PDO feta is traditionally categorized into firm and soft varieties. The business firm variety is tangier and considered college in quality. The soft variety is near soft enough to be spreadable, mostly used in pies and sold at a cheaper price. Slicing feta produces some amount of trímma, "crumble", which is also used for pies (non beingness sellable, trímma is normally given away for free upon request).

High-quality feta should have a creamy texture when sampled, and aromas of ewe'southward milk, butter, and yoghurt. In the mouth it is tangy, slightly salty, and mildly sour, with a spicy finish that recalls pepper and ginger, equally well equally a hint of sweet. According to the specification of the Geographical Indication, the biodiversity of the land coupled with the special breeds of sheep and goats used for milk is what gives feta cheese a specific aroma and flavour.^[2]

Production [edit]

Traditionally (and legally within the EU and other territories where it is protected), feta is produced using just whole sheep's milk, or a blend of sheep's and goat's milk (with a maximum of 30% goat's milk).^[6] The milk may be pasteurized or not, simply most producers now utilise pasteurized milk. If pasteurized milk is used, a starter culture of micro-organisms is added to replace those naturally nowadays in raw milk which are killed in pasteurization. These organisms are required for acidity and flavour development.

When the pasteurized milk has cooled to approximately 35 °C (95 °F),^{[7] [8]} rennet is added and the casein is left to coagulate. The compacted curds are then chopped up and placed in a special mould or a cloth bag that allows the whey to drain.^{[9] [x]} Afterward several hours, the curd is firm enough to cut up and salt;^[7] salinity will eventually achieve approximately iii%,^[8] when the salted curds are placed (depending on the producer and the area of Hellenic republic) in metal vessels or wooden barrels and immune to infuse for several days.^{[7] [eight] [10]}

Subsequently the dry-salting of the cheese is complete, aging or maturation in brine (a 7% salt in water solution) takes several weeks at room temperature and a further minimum of 2 months in a refrigerated high-humidity environment—equally earlier, either in wooden barrels or metallic vessels,^{[viii] [10]} depending on the producer (the more traditional barrel aging is said to impart a unique flavour). The containers are then shipped to supermarkets where the cheese is cutting and sold direct from the container; alternatively blocks of standardized weight are packaged in sealed plastic cups with some brine.

Feta dries relatively rapidly even when refrigerated; if stored for longer than a week, it should be kept in brine or lightly salted milk.

History [edit]

"They make a great many cheeses; it is a pity they are so salty. I saw great warehouses total of them, some in which the brine, or salmoria as we would say was two feet deep, and the large cheeses were floating in information technology. Those in charge told me that the cheeses could non exist preserved in whatever other way, being so rich. They exercise not know how to make butter. They sell a great quantity to the ships that call there: it was astonishing to see the number of cheeses taken on lath our ain galley."

Pietro Casola, 15th-century Italian traveller to Crete^[xi]

Cheese made from sheep and goat milk has been common in the Eastern Mediterranean since aboriginal times.^{[12] [13]} In Bronze Historic period Canaan, cheese was peradventure among the salted foods shipped by ocean in ceramic jars and and so rennet-coagulated white cheeses similar to feta may have been shipped in brine, simply there is no straight bear witness for this.^[xiv] In Greece, the earliest documented reference to cheese production dates dorsum to the eighth century BC and the engineering used to make cheese from sheep-goat milk is like to the technology used past Greek shepherds today to produce feta.^{[15] [16]} In the Odyssey, Homer describes how Polyphemus makes cheese and dry-stores it in wicker racks,^{[17] [xviii]} though he says nothing about brining,^[19] resulting peradventure, according to Paul Southward. Kindstedt, in a rinded cheese like to modern pecorino and caprino rather than feta.^[20] On the other hand, E. M. Antifantakis and Thousand. Moatsou state that Polyphemus' cheese was "undoubtedly the antecedent of modernistic Feta".^[21] Origins aside, cheese produced from sheep-caprine animal milk was a mutual food in aboriginal Greece and an integral component of after Greek gastronomy.^{[15] [16] [21]}

The first unambiguous documentation of preserving cheese in brine appears in Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura (2nd century BCE) though the practice was surely much older.^[22] It is also described in the 10th-century Geoponica.^[22] Feta cheese, specifically, is recorded by Psellos in the 11th century under the name prósphatos (Greek πρόσφατος 'contempo, fresh'), and was produced by Cretans.^[23] In the belatedly 15th century, an Italian visitor to Candia, Pietro Casola, describes the marketing of feta, as well as its storage in brine.^[11] Feta cheese, along with milk and sheep meat, is the principal source of income for shepherds in northwestern Greece.^[24]

The Greek word feta (φέτα) comes from the Italian fetta 'slice', which in plough is derived from the Latin offa 'morsel, slice'.^{[25] [26]} The word feta became widespread as a name for the cheese only in the 19th century, probably referring to the cheese being cutting to pack it in barrels.^[13]

Effect of Certification as a Geographical Indication [edit]

Prior to Hellenic republic's pursuit of a PDO for its feta, there was long-standing production out of Hellenic republic in 3 fellow member states: Federal republic of germany, Kingdom of denmark and France, and in certain countries (east.g. Denmark) feta was perceived equally a generic term, while information technology was perceived equally a designation of origin in others (e.g. Greece), with the middle of product and consumption taking identify in Greece.^[27] Hellenic republic first requested the registration of Feta as a designation of origin in the EU in 1994, which was approved in 1996 by commission regulation (EC) No 1107/96^[28] The decision was appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Marriage (CJEU) by Denmark, France and Federal republic of germany, which annulled the decision as the Commission did non evaluate sufficiently whether or not Feta had go a generic term.^[29] After that conclusion, the European Commission reevaluated registering Feta every bit a PDO, taking into account product in other EU countries and re-registered feta as a PDO in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1829/2002. This conclusion was appealed once again at CJEU by Denmark and Germany. In 2005, the CJEU upheld the Commission Regulation. It indicated that indeed the term was generic in some EU countries and that production also took place exterior Hellenic republic, but that on the other mitt the geographical region in Greece was well defined and that fifty-fifty non-Greek producers often appealed to the condition of Feta equally a Greek product through the choice of packaging.^[27]

The European Commission gave other nations v years to find a new name for their feta cheese or stop production.^[3] Considering of the conclusion by the Eu, Danish dairy company Arla Foods changed the name of its white cheese products to Apetina, which is likewise the name of an Arla food brand established in 1991.^[30] When needed to describe an imitation feta, names such as "salad cheese" and "Greek-style cheese" are used.

The EU included Feta in several Associations Agreements, Free Trade Agreements and agreements on the recognition of Geographical Indications, which led to the expansion of protection of the term Feta. Exporters from the EU to foreign markets exterior the territories covered by these agreements, are not subject area to the European Commission rules. As such, the non-Greek EU cheese sold away is often labeled as feta.^{[31] [32]}

In 2013, an agreement was reached with Canada (CETA) in which Canadian feta manufacturers retained their rights to continue producing feta while new entrants to the market would characterization the product "feta-style/type cheese".^{[33] [34] [35] [36]} In other markets such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, full generic usage of the term "feta" continues.^[31]

Diet [edit]

Feta (typical)

Nutritional value per 100 g (three.v oz)
Energy	ane,103 kJ (264 kcal)
Carbohydrates	4 g
Fat	21 g
Protein	14 g
Vitamins	Quantity %DV †
Vitamin A	422 IU
Riboflavin (Bii)	70% 0.84 mg
Pantothenic acid (Bv)	19% 0.97 mg
Vitamin Bhalf dozen	32% 0.42 mg
Vitamin B12	71% 1.vii μg
Minerals	Quantity %DV †
Calcium	49% 493 mg
Sodium	74% 1116 mg
Zinc	31% ii.nine mg
Units μg = micrograms • mg = milligrams IU = International units
†Percentages are roughly approximated using Usa recommendations for adults. Source: USDA FoodData Cardinal

Like many dairy products, feta has significant amounts of calcium and phosphorus; however, feta is higher in water and thus lower in fat and calories than aged cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano or Cheddar.^[37] The cheese may contain beneficial probiotics.^[38]

Feta, as a sheep dairy production, contains up to 1.nine% conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is most 0.8% of its fat content.^[39]

Feta cheese is very high in salt, at over 400 mg sodium per 100 calories.^[xl]

Similar cheeses [edit]

Similar cheeses can exist found in other countries such as:

• Albania (djathë i bardhë or djathë i Gjirokastrës)
• Armenia (Չանախ chanakh - cheese made in a chan, a type of crock)
• Azerbaijan (ağ pendir, lit. 'white cheese')
• Bosnia (Travnički/Vlašićki sir, lit. "cheese from Vlašić/Travnik")
• Bulgaria (бяло сирене, bjalo sirene , lit. "white cheese")
• Canada (feta fashion cheese, or simply feta for those companies producing the cheese prior to October 2013)
• Czech republic (balkánský sýr, lit. "Balkan cheese")
• Egypt (domiati)
• Finland (salaattijuusto, "salad cheese")
• Georgia (ყველი, kveli, lit. "cheese")
• Deutschland (Schafskäse, "sheep cheese")
• Hungary (juhturo)
• Iran (Lighvan cheese; پنیر لیقوان panīr-e līghvān)
• Israel (gvina bulgarit, lit. "Bulgarian cheese")
• Italia (casu 'e fitta Sardinia)
• Lebanon ( gibneh bulgharieh , lit. "Bulgarian cheese")
• North Macedonia (сирење, sirenje)
• Palestine and Hashemite kingdom of jordan (Nabulsi cheese; جبنة نابلسية , and Akkawi; عكاوي )
• Romania (brânză telemea)
• Russia (брынза, brynza)
• Serbia (сир, sir equally a common name; сирење, sirenje in Due south, including Kosovo Serb; and brinza in north and east Serbia within Slovak and Aromanian populations)
• Slovakia (bryndza and Balkánsky syr, lit. "Balkan cheese")
• Kingdom of spain (Queso de Burgos, lit. "Burgos cheese")
• Sudan (gibna beyda, lit. "white cheese")
• Turkey (beyaz peynir, lit. "white cheese")
• Ukraine (бринза, brynza)

See too [edit]

• List of aboriginal dishes and foods
• Listing of cheeses – List of cheeses by place of origin

Footnotes [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} "oriGIn Worldwide GIs Compilation". ORIGIN-GI . Retrieved ane September 2021.
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Φέτα / Feta". GI View - European Union . Retrieved ane September 2021.
3. ^ ^{a b} Gooch, Ellen (Bound–Summertime 2006). "Truth, Lies, and Feta: The Cheese that Launched a (Trade) War". Epikouria: Fine Foods and Drinks of Greece. Triaina Publishing. Archived from the original on 5 July 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b} Pappas, Gregory (2015). "Feta Cheese at the Center of Growing US-EU Trade Tensions". The Pappas Post. Elite CafeMedia Lifestyle.
5. ^ "Presenting the Feta Cheese P.D.O. – Feta'southward Description". Fetamania. CheeseNet: Promoting Greek PDO Cheese. 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
6. ^ European Union (xv Oct 2002). Feta: Livestock Farming. European Committee – Agriculture and Rural Development: Door. p. 18.
7. ^ ^{a b c} Harbutt 2006.
8. ^ ^{a b c d} "Feta Product". Fetamania. CheeseNet: Promoting Greek PDO Cheese. 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
9. ^ Barthélemy & Sperat-Czar 2004.
10. ^ ^{a b c} "Greek Cheese". Odysea. Odysea Limited. 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
11. ^ ^{a b} Dalby 1996, p. 190.
12. ^ Dalby 1996, pp. 23, 43.
13. ^ ^{a b} Adams 2016, p. 271.
14. ^ Kindstedt 2012, pp. 48–50.
15. ^ ^{a b} Polychroniadou-Alichanidou 2004, p. 283.
16. ^ ^{a b} Bintsis & Alichanidis 2018, p. 180.
17. ^ Odyssey ix:219-249
18. ^ Hatziminaoglou & Boyazoglou 2004, p. 126: "Homer in his famous ancient Greek book, the Odyssey, describes the use of dairy goats during the Mycenean times (about 1200 B.C.), when the Cyclops Polyphemus in his cave sat down to milk his goats and sheep, then put aside half of the milk to be curdled in wicker baskets with the previous day's whey".
19. ^ Razionale 2016, p. 360.
20. ^ Kindstedt 2012, pp. 74–76.
21. ^ ^{a b} Antifantakis & Moatsou 2006, p. 43.
22. ^ ^{a b} Kindstedt 2012, p. 50.
23. ^ Michael Psellos. "Poem on Medicine", 1:209; Dalby 1996, p. 190.
24. ^ Öncel, Fatma (2020). "Transhumants and Rural Change in Northern Hellenic republic Throughout the Nineteenth Century" (PDF). International Review of Social History (published 2021). 66 (one): 49. doi:10.1017/S0020859020000371. ISSN 0020-8590. Every summertime, from time immemorial, shepherds have brought their flocks to the loftier pastures of the Pindos Mountains in the northwest corner of Hellenic republic. […] Milk, feta cheese, and the meat from the lambs are the shepherds' main source of income.
25. ^ Harper, David (2001–2020). "feta (north.)". Online Etymology Dictionary.
26. ^ Babiniotis 1998.
27. ^ ^{a b} "Joined Cases C-465/02 and C-466/02 Feta". CJEU . Retrieved 1 September 2021.
28. ^ "Commission Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 of 12 June 1996 on the registration of geographical indications and designations of origin under the process laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92". European Commission.
29. ^ "In Joined Cases C-289/96, C-293/96 and C-299/96 Feta". CJEU . Retrieved 1 September 2021.
30. ^ "Arla Apetina". Arla. Arla Foods. 2013. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 7 Dec 2013.
31. ^ ^{a b} "Feta United states". The Cheese Shop. The Cheese Shop. 2007–2019. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
32. ^ "Canadian Feta – Moo-cow'due south Milk". Cheese Bazaar . Retrieved 2 Dec 2020.
33. ^ Emmott, Robin (5 May 2015). "Greece wants changes to Eu-Canada trade deal to protect "feta" proper noun". Reuters . Retrieved 4 October 2016.
34. ^ Official Journal of the European Union 2017, p. 141.
35. ^ General Secretariat of the Council of the Eu (world wide web.consilium.europa.eu/en/); Greek Delegation (world wide web.mfa.gr/brussels/en/) (thirty April 2015). "Protection of the Geographical Indication of Feta Cheese in the Context of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) — Asking from the Greek Delegation" (PDF). Strange Affairs/Trade Council Session of 2015-05-07 (WTO 100 Note [Annex is Presentation of Greek Request]). Brussels. p. iii. ST 8508 2015 INIT. Retrieved 18 January 2019. .
36. ^ Christides, Giorgos (13 December 2013). "Feta Cheese Row Sours Eu-Canada Trade Deal". BBC . Retrieved 24 May 2014. Merely new Canadian brands of 'feta' volition have to phone call their cheese 'feta-way' or 'faux feta' and cannot evoke Greece on the label, such as using Greek lettering or an image of ancient Greek columns.
37. ^ Θερμόπουλος, Μιχάλης (12 July 2020). "Φέτα: Τι προσφέρει και τι κινδύνους κρύβει – Διατροφικά στοιχεία". iatropedia.
38. ^ Cutcliffe, Tom (xv March 2018). "My big fat Greek functional food - probiotic feta could become a big cheese". Nutrain Ingredients . Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via Nutrient Microbiology.
39. ^ Prandini, Sigolo & Piva 2011, pp. 55–61.
40. ^ "Cheese, feta Nutrition Facts & Calories". NutritionData: Know What You Eat. Condé Nast. 2018.

References [edit]

• Adams, Alexis Marie (2016). "feta". In Donnelly, Catherine W. (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Cheese. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 269–271. ISBN978-0199330881.
• Antifantakis, E. M.; Moatsou, M. (2006). "two Feta and Other Balkan Cheeses". In Tamime, Adnan (ed.). Brined Cheeses. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 43–76. ISBN9781405124607.
• Babiniotis, George D. (1998). Λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας με σχόλια για τη σωστή χρήση των λέξεων Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας (in Greek). Athens: Kentro Leksikologias. ISBN9789608619005.
• Barthélemy, Roland; Sperat-Arbiter, Arnaud (2004). Cheeses of the World. London: Hachette Illustrated. ISBN978-1-84-430115-7.
• Bintsis, Thomas; Alichanidis, Efstathios (2018). "Cheeses from Hellenic republic". In Papademas, Photis; Bintsis, Thomas (eds.). Global Cheesemaking Technology: Cheese Quality and Characteristics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 180–181. ISBN9781119046158.
• Dalby, Andrew (1996). Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN9781134969852.
• Kindstedt, Paul S. (2012). Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and Its Place in Western Civilization. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN978-1603584128.
• Harbutt, Juliet (2006). The World Encyclopedia of Cheese. London: Hermes House. ISBN9781843099604.
• Hatziminaoglou, Y.; Boyazoglou, J. (2004). "The goat in ancient civilisations: from the Fertile Crescent to the Aegean Body of water". Small Ruminant Research. 51: 123–129.
• Official Periodical of the European Wedlock (2017). "Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)".
• Polychroniadou-Alichanidou, Anna (2004). "xiii: Traditional Greek Feta". In Hui, Y.H.; Meunier-Goddik, Lisbeth; Josephsen, Jytte; Nip, Wai-Kit; Stanfield, Peggy S. (eds.). Handbook of Food and Beverage Fermentation Technology. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. pp. 283–299. ISBN9780824751227.
• Prandini, Aldo; Sigolo, Samantha; Piva, Gianfranco (2011). "A comparative study of fatty acid composition and CLA concentration in commercial cheeses". Periodical of Food Composition and Analysis. 24 (one): 55–61. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2010.04.004.
• Razionale, Vince (2016). "Homer". In Donnelly, Catherine W. (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Cheese. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 360. ISBN978-0199330881.

Further reading [edit]

• Petridou, Evangelia (2001). Milk Ties: A Commodity Chain Approach to Greek Culture (PDF). London: University College London.

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Feta.

• International Feta Twenty-four hours

georgehavager.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feta