Kasseri
Name Variations[]
- Kaser
- Kaseri
About Kasseri[]
A mild and creamy soft cheese creamy. This farm cheese has a bitter flavor. It is a medium-hard pale yellow cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk with very little, if any, goat's milk mixed in, in Turkey and Greece. It is a soft textured, stringy rather than crumbly, chewey, hard-rind cheese and belongs to the pasta filata family of cheeses, like provolone. The use of fresh unpasteurized milk is necessary to obtain the correct flavor and texture, and aging of at least four months is required for the development of flavor. In its aged stage it faintly resembles Parmesan or Asiago but is not as creamy.
The name "Kasseri", produced in Greece is a protected designation of origin in the European Union.
This Greek cheese is made from sheep's or goat's milk. it has a sharp, salty flavor and hard cheddar like texture that's perfect for grating. An American version is made with cow's milk. The creamy gold-colored kasseri has a natural rind and is usually sold in blocks. It's delicious plain, grated over hot foods or used in cooking. Kasseri is the cheese used in the famous Greek dish Saganaki, where it's sautéed in butter, sprinkled with lemon juice and sometimes flamed with brandy.