White brined cheeses: A diachronic exploitation of small ruminants milk in Greece

Abstract

Greece is one of the major small ruminants' milk production countries, in terms of annual per habitant production. The most part of this milk is used for the manufacture of a variety of cheeses, with brined cheeses like Feta maintaining the first place. Brined cheeses is the group of cheese varieties ripened and preserved in brine for a considerable amount of time, i.e. until consumption, whereas White brined cheeses are brined cheeses made from curds that are not subjected to any heat treatment. The objective of this review paper is to present briefly the cheese making technology and the most recent publications about the ripening characteristics of the brined cheeses produced in Greece from the milk of small ruminants. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.