Ladotyri Mytilinis (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Λαδοτύρι Μυτιλήνης) is a traditionally prepared

Protected Designation of Origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main purpose is to designat ...

(PDO) cheese from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, preserved in

extra virgin olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a condiment, or ...

. It is made on the island of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

in the Northern Aegean Islands, and has been produced since ancient times. The cheese is made with

ovine Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to dom ...

milk or with a mixture of ovine and caprine milk, the latter of which should not exceed 30%. The official designation for this hard table cheese notes the following production method: "The milk is coagulated with added

rennet Rennet () is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease, protease enzyme that curdling, curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, su ...

at 32-34 deg C in 30 minutes. The curd is then broken up and reheated to 45 deg C. Most of the whey is then removed and the curds are pressed in the bottom of the vat to form a compact mass. This is cut into pieces weighing between 5 and 7 kilos. The pieces are then placed on a bench and cut again to their final cheese size. They are then placed in special moulds, firmly pressed by hand, salted and taken to a ripening room where they remain for not less than 3 months." PDO status was granted on June 12, 1996, by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, following Ministerial Decision No. 313058 in Greece, dated January 18, 1994.

Cultural impact

Livestock farming and cheese production (along with olive farming) are very important for the agricultural sector of the island of Lesbos. The PDO cheese itself "is an emblematic product for the local population with strong cultural connotations". ''Ladotyri'' means "oil cheese" in the

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

; such a method of preservation was common until household refrigerators became common in the 1960s and 1970s. According to the official designation, the milk must come from "sheep and goats traditionally fed and adapted to the area of production. Their diet must be based on the flora of the area". Most of the cheese produced is sold to supermarkets rather than directly from the farm to consumers. The mass-market version of the cheese is called

Graviera Graviera ( ) is a cheese from Greece produced in various parts of Greece, the main varieties of which are Crete, Lesbos, Naxos and Amfilochia. It resembles gruyère, a Swiss cheese from whose name "graviera" is derived. Graviera is Greece's sec ...

, for which consumption had declined from 1998 to 2005. Demand for the PDO product increased during the same period.

References

Greek cheeses Greek products with protected designation of origin {{cheese-stub

Cultural impact

See also

References