Feta

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox cheese

Feta (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, and no skin. 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 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 aromatic herbs such as oregano. It can also 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). EU legislation and similar legislation in 25 other countries<ref name=Origin/> limits the name feta to cheeses produced in the traditional way in mainland Greece and Lesbos Prefecture,<ref name=GIView/> which are made from sheep milk, or from a mixture of sheep milk and up to 30% of goat milk from the same area.<ref name=Gooch>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Similar white brined cheeses are made traditionally in the Balkans, Cyprus, around the Black Sea, in West Asia, and more recently elsewhere. Outside the EU, the name feta is often used generically for these cheeses.<ref name="Pappas">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Generic term and production outside GreeceEdit

For many consumers, the word feta is a generic term for a white, crumbly cheese aged in brine. Production of the cheese first began in the Eastern Mediterranean and around the Black Sea. Over time, production expanded to countries including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, often partly or wholly of cow milk, and is (or was) sometimes also called feta.<ref name="Pappas"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the United States, most cheese sold under the name feta is American and made from cow milk.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Request quotation

Geographical IndicationEdit

File:Feta GI.svg

Countries where the term Feta is protected as a Geographical Indication Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

Since 2002, feta has been a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product within the European Union. According to the relevant EU legislation (applicable within the EU and Northern Ireland), as well as similar UK legislation only those cheeses produced in a traditional way in particular areas of Greece, which are made from sheep milk, or from a mixture of sheep milk and up to 30% of goat milk from the same area, can be called feta. Also in several other countries the term feta has since been protected. An overview is shown in the table below.

citation
Country/Territory	Start of protection	Comments/Exceptions
CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=GIView>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
European Union	Template:Dts	PDO, also valid in Northern Ireland
Armenia	Template:Dts	Also protected as Ֆետա
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Template:Dts
Canada	Template:Dts	Use of feta including the terms "kind", "type", "style", "imitation" etc. is allowed, as well as use by producers using the term before 18 October 2013.
China	Template:Dts	Also protected as 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	Template:Dts	Also protected as ფეტა.
Guatemala
Honduras
Iceland	Template:Dts
Japan	Template:Dts	Also protected as フェタ.
Kosovo	Template:Dts
Liechtenstein	Template:Dts
Moldova	Template:Dts
Montenegro	Template:Dts
Nicaragua
Panama
Peru
Serbia	Template:Dts
Singapore	Template:Dts
South Africa	Template:Dts
South Korea	Template:Dts	Also protected as 페따.
Switzerland	Template:Dts
Ukraine	Template:Dts	Also protected as Фета. As of 31 December 2022, limited use of the term is no longer allowed for similar products
United Kingdom	Template:Dts	Continuation of EU PDO, valid in England, Scotland and Wales
Vietnam	Template:Dts

DescriptionEdit

The EU PDO for feta requires a maximum moisture of 56%, a minimum fat content in dry matter of 43%, and a pH that usually ranges from 4.4 to 4.6.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Production of the EU PDO feta is traditionally categorized into firm and soft varieties. The firm variety is tangier and considered higher in quality. The soft variety is almost 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 (not being sellable, trímma is usually given away for free upon request).

High-quality feta should have a creamy texture when sampled, and aromas of ewe's milk, butter, and yoghurt. In the mouth it is tangy, slightly salty, and mildly sour, with a spicy finish that recalls pepper and ginger, as well as a hint of sweetness. 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 flavor.<ref name=GIView/>

ProductionEdit

Traditionally (and legally within the EU and other territories where it is protected), feta is produced using only whole sheep milk, or a blend of sheep and goat milk (with a maximum of 30% goat milk).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The milk may be pasteurized or not, but most producers now use pasteurized milk. If pasteurized milk is used, a starter culture of micro-organisms is added to replace those naturally present in raw milk that are killed in pasteurization. These organisms are required for acidity and flavour development.

When the pasteurized milk has cooled to approximately Template:Convert,<ref name=Harbutt>Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name="Feta Production">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name="Odysea">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After several hours, the curd is firm enough to cut up and salt;<ref name=Harbutt/> salinity will eventually reach approximately 3%,<ref name="Feta Production"/> when the salted curds are placed (depending on the producer and the area of Greece) in metal vessels or wooden barrels and allowed to infuse for several days.<ref name=Harbutt/><ref name="Feta Production"/><ref name="Odysea"/>

After 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—as before, either in wooden barrels or metal vessels,<ref name="Feta Production"/><ref name="Odysea"/> 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 cut and sold directly from the container; alternatively blocks of standardized weight are packaged in sealed plastic cups with some brine.

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

HistoryEdit

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Cheese made from sheep and goat milk has been common in the Eastern Mediterranean since ancient times.<ref name=Dalby23>Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name=Adams/> In Bronze Age Canaan, cheese was perhaps among the salted foods shipped by sea in ceramic jars and so rennet-coagulated white cheeses similar to feta may have been shipped in brine, but there is no direct evidence for this.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> In Greece, the earliest documented reference to cheese production dates back to the 8th century BC and the technology used to make cheese from sheep-goat milk is similar to the technology used by Greek shepherds today to produce feta.<ref name=Polychroniadou283>Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name=Bintsis-Alichanidis>Template:Harvnb.</ref> In the Odyssey, Homer describes how Polyphemus makes cheese and dry-stores it in wicker racks,<ref>Odyssey 9:219-249</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> though he says nothing about brining<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref>—resulting perhaps, according to Paul S. Kindstedt, in a rinded cheese similar to modern pecorino and caprino rather than feta.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> On the other hand, E. M. Antifantakis and G. Moatsou state that Polyphemus' cheese was "undoubtedly the ancestor of modern Feta".<ref name=Antifantakis-Moatsou>Template:Harvnb.</ref> Origins aside, cheese produced from sheep-goat milk was a common food in ancient Greece and an integral component of later Greek gastronomy.<ref name=Polychroniadou283/><ref name=Bintsis-Alichanidis/><ref name=Antifantakis-Moatsou/>

The first unambiguous documentation of preserving cheese in brine appears in Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura (2nd century BC), though the practice was surely much older.<ref name=Kindstedt50>Template:Harvnb.</ref> It is also described in the 10th-century Geoponica.<ref name=Kindstedt50/> Feta cheese, specifically, is recorded by Psellos in the 11th century under the name prósphatos (Greek πρόσφατος 'recent, fresh'), and was produced by Cretans.<ref>Michael Psellos. "Poem on Medicine", 1:209; Template:Harvnb.</ref> In the late 15th century, an Italian visitor to Candia, Pietro Casola, describes the marketing of feta, as well as its storage in brine.<ref name=Dalby190>Template:Harvnb.</ref> Feta cheese, along with milk and sheep meat, is the principal source of income for shepherds in northwestern Greece.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The Greek word Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) comes from the Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss, which in turn is derived from the Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> The word feta became widespread as a name for the cheese only in the 19th century; probably referring to the cheese being cut to pack it in barrels.<ref name=Adams>Template:Harvnb.</ref> The same cheese can be referred to differently within Greece itself. In Thessaloniki, for example, it is referred to as Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), which is the general word for Template:Gloss in the south of the country.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Effect of certification as a geographical indicationEdit

Prior to Greece's pursuit of a PDO for its feta, there was long-standing production out of Greece in three member states: Germany, Denmark and France, and in certain countries (e.g., Denmark) feta was perceived as a generic term, while it was perceived as a designation of origin in others (e.g., Greece), with the centre of production and consumption taking place in Greece.<ref name=CJEU2005>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Greece 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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The decision was appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) by Denmark, France and Germany, which annulled the decision as the Commission did not evaluate sufficiently whether or not Feta had become a generic term.<ref name=CJEU1999>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

After that decision, the European Commission reevaluated registering feta as a PDO, taking into account production in other EU countries and re-registered feta as a PDO in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1829/2002. This decision was appealed 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 outside Greece, but that on the other hand the geographical region in Greece was well defined and that even non-Greek producers often appealed to the status of Feta as a Greek product through the choice of packaging.<ref name="CJEU2005" />

Although the island of Cephalonia also traditionally produces feta, the island was left out of the definition of the protected designation of origin. While this does not play a role for consumers in Greece, dairies lose out in sales abroad because they do not produce real "feta" and have to accept price reductions.<ref>item/%CF%84%CF%85%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC-%CE%BA%CE% B5%CF%86%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%AC%CF%82/</ref>

The European Commission gave other nations five years to find a new name for their feta cheese or stop production.<ref name=Gooch/> Because of the decision by the European Union, Danish dairy company Arla Foods changed the name of its white cheese products to Apetina, which is also the name of an Arla food brand established in 1991.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The British cheese Yorkshire Feta was renamed to Fine Fettle Yorkshire.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 outside the territories covered by these agreements are not subject to the European Commission rules. As such, the non-Greek EU cheese sold abroad is often labeled as feta.

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 label the product "feta-style/type cheese".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In other markets such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, full generic usage of the term "feta" continues, and was one of several original name issues preventing the signing of an Australia–EU free trade deal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

NutritionEdit

Template:Nutritionalvalue

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The cheese may contain beneficial probiotics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Feta, as a sheep dairy product, contains up to 1.9% conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is about 0.8% of its fat content.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref>

Feta cheese is very high in salt, at over 400 mg sodium per 100 calories.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Similar cheesesEdit

File:Greece Food Horiatiki.JPG

A Greek salad with a slice of feta

Similar cheeses can be found in other countries, such as:

Albania (Urdha or djathë i bardhë, Template:Literally)
Armenia (Չանախ chanakh - cheese made in a chan, a type of crock)
Azerbaijan (ağ pendir, Template:Literally)
Bosnia (Travnički/Vlašićki sir, lit. "cheese from Vlašić/Travnik")
Bulgaria (бяло сирене, Template:Transliteration, lit. "white cheese")
Canada (feta style cheese, or simply feta for those companies producing the cheese prior to October 2013)
Cyprus (χαλίτζια, halitzia)
Czech Republic (balkánský sýr, lit. "Balkan cheese")
Egypt (domiati)
Finland (salaattijuusto, "salad cheese")
Georgia (ყველი, kveli, lit. "cheese")
Germany (Schafskäse, "sheep cheese")
Hungary (juhturo)
Iran (Lighvan cheese; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} panīr-e līghvān)
Israel (gvinat rosh hanikra, lit. "Rosh Hanikra cheese", sometimes called abroad 'Israeli feta'.)
Italy (casu 'e fitta Sardinia)
Lebanon (Template:Transliteration, lit. "Bulgarian cheese")
North Macedonia (сирење, sirenje)
Palestine and Jordan (Nabulsi cheese; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, and Akkawi; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Romania (brânză telemea)
Russia (брынза, brynza)
Serbia (сир, sir as a common name; сирење, sirenje in South, including Kosovo Serb; and brinza in north and east Serbia within Slovak and Aromanian populations)
Slovakia (bryndza and Balkánsky syr, lit. "Balkan cheese")
Spain (Queso de Burgos, lit. "Burgos cheese")
Sudan (gibna beyda, lit. "white cheese")
Tajikistan ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, panir, lit. "cheese")
Turkey (beyaz peynir, lit. "white cheese")
Ukraine (бринза, brynza)
United Kingdom ("salad cheese")