Cyprus food stuff
HALLOUMI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
HALLOUMI archimandrite:Historic
background
TYPES OF HALLOUMI
EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS USED IN THE MAKING
OF HALLOUMI
TRADITIONAL WAY OF PRODUCING HALLOUMI
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SOURCE: AREA: SERIAL No: |
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Katerina Serghiou, who
gathered most of the information used in this section. Furthermore, I
would like to thank Athina Modestou, who kindly prepared Halloumi and
Anari for me in the traditional way, explaining the different stages of
production at the same time.
I would also like to thank Jeanne Savva for translating the article into
English.
It would be an omission on my part not to thank my beloved mother, Styliani,
who in my childhood had explained to me the traditional way of preparing
cheese.
HALLOUMI archimandrite
Historic background
Halloumi/hellim is the most common traditional cheese in Cyprus, known both locally and abroad. It is made from goat and sheep milk.
Archimandrite Kyprianos (1788) mentions (History and Chronicles of the Island of Cyprus) that halloumi/hellim cheese was exported 144 years prior to 1788. In his book Geoponiko (1643) Monk Agapios describes the method of making halloumi cheese. A few years ago Cyprus managed to obtain exclusive rights to the name halloumi/hellim in the USA, Canada and Europe.
Halloumi/hellim is a semi-hard, white cheese, made of pressed curd
that is the result of the curdling of milk with rennet, for the formation of
coagulated casein.
The curd is then cooked, salted and flavored with mint and then it is
shaped in the traditional folded shape.
Archimandrite Kyprianos compared the shape of halloumi/hellim to
‘tongues of cheese’.
There are different possibilities regarding the derivation of its name,
however the most probable is the one sited in Kyriakos Hadji-Ioannou’s,
Etymological dictionary of the spoken Cypriot dialect (1996),that it has
derived from the Arabic word ‘khllum’ that means cheese.
Greek Cypriots call it halloumi and Turkish Cypriots call it
hellim.
TYPES OF HALLOUMI
Although there are 2 ways in which halloumi/hellim is prepared, namely the traditional way and the industrial-commercial way, the authorities have defined it according to the Cyprus Standards.
a) CYS
94: Part 1:1985– Fresh Halloumi |
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The types of Halloumi found on the market are many. These are some examples:
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a) Vacuum packed fresh Halloumi from a blend of milk |
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All vacuum packed Halloumi should be done so according to the
Cyprus Standards CYS 33:1978 description of packed food types.
The labels must include the type of milk used in the production, storing
instructions and and the expiry date.
EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS USED IN THE MAKING OF HALLOUMI
Before explaining how halloumi/hellim is made, it is wise to explain first the various equipment and materials needed for its production because they are rather unusual and need further explanation.
a) HARDJIN: (copper cauldron)
It is a big copper cauldron, galvanized internally, which has a capacity of 20 to 200 liters. It is used to curdle and the cook the cheese
b) TYROSKAMNI: (cheese table)
It is a slanting table that is used to easily drain the whey. It is also used to shape and the salt the cheese.
c) TALARI:
It is s specially woven basket mould, woven with material taken from bushes called sklinidjia. It is used to press the whey out of the curds and to form a semi-moist cheese.
d) KANNI:
It is a cane made of reeds, which has a branch of thyme attached to one end. It is used to stir the whey, so that it does not stick to the cauldron during the making of Anari.
e) TYROPANNO:
It is a cheesecloth, which even-woven, used to hold the curds and drain out the whey. Halloumi/hellim is tied inside this cloth and then submerged into the boiling whey to be cooked.
f) PITHKIA: (rennet enzyme)
Rennet is the prepared enzyme that comes from rennin, the natural enzyme found in the fourth stomach of sheep and goats. It is used to curdle the cheese. In combination with bacteria, rennet facilitates the process that converts lactose (milk sugar) into lactic acid, which is necessary for fermentation . Stomachs of baby goats and lambs (1 – 7 days old), not yet been weaned from their mother’s milk, are used to create the rennet.
The
stomach is hung in the sun to dry. The globules of rennin
formed this way were taken and placed in cheesecloth. The result of this
procedure is the rennet and it can be used many times. Today rennet
is produced commercially.
TRADITIONAL WAY OF PRODUCING HALLOUMI
- Milk is sieved into the cauldron using a cheesecloth, to remove any impurities or alien objects from the milk.
- The milk is then scalded to 30–34° C and some salt is added.
- Rennet is added to aid the curdling of the milk into coagulated casein.
- The milk is covered and left to curdle for about 45 – 60 minutes.
- Check if the milk has curdled enough by pressing the surface of the milk. It should not stick onto the sides of the cauldron.
- This solid surface is traditionally known as ghialli, which means ‘glass’.
- The curds are then cut by hand into small pieces. The cutting of curds is used in all methods of cheese making. This process facilitates the extraction of whey from the curds. The cut curds were known as: dhrosino, vloungos or floungos, depending on the village.
- The cut curd is placed into the woven basket mould and pressed to extract whey. Whey escapes through the holes of the basket. This process is done on the slanting cheese-table, so that the whey drains back into the cauldron.
- Then halloumi/hellim is taken out of the woven basket mould and is cut into 3 or 4 pieces per kilo.
- They are then sprayed with some cold water to help become firm.
- The left over whey is boiled in the cauldron. In some villages lemon is added at this stage.
- Salt is added only when making salted anari/nor.
- Some milk is added to the whey and when the temperature is about 85° C, anari/nor starts to rise to the surface of the cauldron. This is the sign for the cheese-maker to begin stirring anari/nor,so that it does not stick to the bottom of the cauldron. Stirring is done with a specially designed reed stick (kanni).
- Anari/nor is removed from the cauldron and placed in woven-basket moulds or in cheesecloths.
- When ianari/nor has been removed from the cauldron, replace it with pieces of halloumi/hellim and boil them till they rise to the surface. The temperature in the centre of the halloumi/hellim should be 85° C.
- Then the halloumi/hellim is taken out salt mixed with fresh or dried mint is added to it. Then the cheese is folded into its traditional shape.
- Halloumi/hellim is left to cool down and it is then transferred to containers, which are filled with brine (salty whey).
- Fresh halloumi/hellim stays in brine for one day.
- Mature halloumi/hellim is kept in brine for 40 days.
- The bottles or jars where halloumi/hellim is placed for maturing should be clean and sealed.
- If anari/nor is to be salted and dried, it is shaped in specially designed baskets or cut into squares and placed into the sun to dry.
NOTE
Today all milk used for the production of halloumi/hellim has to be
pasteurized.
Then it is cooled to 30 – 34° C in order to have rennet and lactic acid
added for the fermentation.
Pasteurization is used to destroy harmful microbes that might affect the
proper curdling of the milk.
