Halloumi or hallumi is a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture
of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk.
It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled.
Halloumi is set with rennet and is unusual in that no acid or acid-producing bacterium
is used in its preparation.
Halloumi is popular in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and the Levant.
It has recently become very popular in the United Kingdom.
Cypriot halloumi Halloumi cheese originated in Cyprus and was
initially made during the Medieval Byzantine period, subsequently gaining popularity throughout
the Middle East region.
The cheese is white, with a distinctive layered texture, similar to mozzarella and has a salty
flavour.
It is stored in its natural juices with salt-water and can keep for up to a year if frozen below
−18 °C and defrosted to +4 °C before sale.
It is often garnished with mint to add to the taste.
Traditionally, the mint leaves were used as a preservative, this practice arising from
the serendipitous discovery that halloumi kept better and was fresher and more flavoursome
when wrapped with mint leaves.
In accordance with this tradition, many packages of halloumi contain fragments of mint leaves
on the surface of the cheese.
The cheese is often used in cooking and can be fried until brown without melting, owing
to its higher-than-normal melting point.
This makes it an excellent cheese for frying or grilling or fried and served with vegetables,
or as an ingredient in salads.
Cypriots like eating halloumi with watermelon in the warm months, and as halloumi and lountza –
a combination of halloumi cheese and either a slice of smoked pork, or a soft lamb sausage.
The resistance to melting comes from the fresh curd being heated before being shaped and
placed in brine.
Traditional halloumi is a semicircular shape, about the size of a large wallet, weighing
220–270 g.
The fat content is approximately 25% wet weight, 47% dry weight with about 17% protein.
Its firm texture when cooked causes it to squeak on the teeth when being chewed.
Traditional halloumi is made from unpasteurised sheep and goat milk.
Many people also like halloumi that has been aged; kept in its own brine, it is much drier,
much stronger and much saltier.
This cheese is very different from the milder halloumi that Western chefs use as an ingredient.
Halloumi is registered as a protected Cypriot product within the United States but not yet
in the European Union.
The delay in registering the name halloumi with the EU has been largely due to a conflict
between dairy producers and sheep and goat farmers as to whether registered halloumi
will contain cow’s milk or not and if so, at what ratios with sheep and goat’s milk.
Most Cypriots agree that, traditionally, halloumi was made from sheep and goat milk, since there
were few cows on the island until they were brought over by the British in the 20th century.
But as demand grew, industrial cheese-makers began pouring more of the cheaper and more-plentiful
cow's milk into their caldrons.
If it is registered as a PDO, it would receive similar status as 600 or so other agricultural
products such as feta and Parmesan cheese.
Etymology The name "halloumi" is probably derived from
an Egyptian Arabic loanword from Coptic halum meaning "cheese", and it is believed to have
been eaten in ancient Egypt.
In modern Egypt, hâlûmi, which is similar to Cypriot "halloumi" but is essentially a
different cheese, is eaten either fresh or brined and spiced.
Nutritional facts 100 g of commercially produced packaged halloumi
has a typical composition of: See also
Fried cheese Saganaki
Leipäjuusto Queijo coalho
References