Kasseri is a medium-hard pale yellow cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

 made from unpasteurized sheep milk

Sheep milk

Sheep's milk is the milk of domestic sheep. Though not widely drunk in any modern culture, sheep's milk is commonly used to make cultured dairy products. Well-known cheeses made from sheep milk include the Feta of Greece, Roquefort of France, Manchego from Spain, the Pecorino Romano , the Pecorino...

 with very little, if any, goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

's milk mixed in, in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. There is also a cow-milk version.

It is a soft textured, stringy rather than crumbly, chewy, hard-rind cheese and belongs to the pasta filata

Pasta filata

Pasta filata is a technique in the manufacture of a family of Italian cheeses also known in English as stretched-curd, pulled-curd, and plastic-curd cheeses.The cheese-making begins in the normal way...

 family of cheeses, like Provolone

Provolone

Provolone is an Italian cheese that originated in Southern Italy, where it is still produced in various shapes as in 10 to 15 cm long pear, sausage, or cone shapes. A variant of Provolone is also produced in North America and Japan...

 or Muenster.
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. Aged kasseri faintly resembles Parmesan or Asiago

Asiago cheese

Asiago is an Italian cow's milk cheese that can assume different textures, according to its aging, from smooth for the fresh Asiago to a crumbly texture for the aged cheese of which the flavor is reminiscent of Parmesan...

 but is not as creamy.

The name "Kasseri", produced in Greece is a protected designation of origin

Protected designation of origin

Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...

 in the European Union.

Kasseri is consumed as is, in sandwich

Sandwich

A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...

es, as the main constituent in kasseropita

Kasseropita

Kasseropita is a pie made from kasseri. Its name is a compound word which derives from "kasseri" and "pita" . It usually uses filo pastry and is served as a snack or as a Hors d'œuvre during meals....

 pie

Pie

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....

, or in "kasseri tiganismeno" or saganaki

Saganaki

Saganaki refers to various dishes prepared in Greek cuisine and is named after the single-serving frying pan in which it is cooked....

.

Kars gravyer cheese

Kars is an eastern Anatolian city famous for its pastures and cattle. Kars gravyer cheese is made of high-fat cow's milk. It looks like French gruyère cheese

Gruyère (cheese)

Gruyère is a hard yellow cheese, named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland, and originated in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne...

, tastes like Swiss emmental cheese

Emmental (cheese)

Emmental or Emmentaler is a cheese from Switzerland. It is sometimes known as Swiss cheese in North America, Australia and New Zealand, although Swiss cheese does not always imply Emmentaler....

 and takes a long time to produce. It usually takes 10 months to age. There are holes of 1-2 cm in the cheese, which is yellow while the rind should be darker. If the holes are both big and small and irregular, it means the cheese is not of good quality.

See also

• Turkish cuisine
  Turkish cuisine
  Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including that of western Europe...
  
  
• Cuisine of Cyprus
  Cuisine of Cyprus
  Cypriot cuisine is the cuisine of Cyprus and can be described as a blend of Greek cuisines. Greek Cypriot cuisine is another regional Greek cuisine along with Cretan, Ionian, or Attic....
  
  
• Greek cuisine
• Greek food products
  Greek food products
  -Olive oil:Greece produces more than 430,000 tons of olive oil annually, and more than 75% of that is extra virgin. Greek olive oil is exported throughout the world....
  
  
• Kefalotyri cheese
  Kefalotyri cheese
  Kefalotyri is a hard, salty yellow cheese made from sheep milk and/or goat's milk in Greece and Cyprus, although, a similar cheese Kefalograviera, which is made with cow's milk, or a mixture of sheep and cow is sometimes sold outside Greece and Cyprus as Kefalotyri...
  
  
• Gruyère (cheese)
  Gruyère (cheese)
  Gruyère is a hard yellow cheese, named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland, and originated in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne...
  
  
• Jarlsberg cheese
  Jarlsberg cheese
  Jarlsberg is a mild cow's-milk cheese with large irregular holes or what are commonly referred to as "eyes", originating in Jarlsberg, Norway.-Description:...
  
  
• Swiss cheese
  Swiss cheese
  Swiss cheese is a generic name in North America for several related varieties of cheese which resemble the Swiss Emmental. Some types of Swiss cheese have a distinctive appearance, as the blocks of the cheese are riddled with holes known as "eyes". Swiss cheese has a piquant, but not very sharp,...
  
  
• Leerdammer
  Leerdammer
  Leerdammer is a Dutch semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk. It has an aging time of around 3–12 months.It has a creamy white texture and was made to be similar in appearance and flavor to Emmental, but it is rounder in taste. It has a sweet and somewhat nutty flavour that becomes more pronounced...
  
  
• Maasdam cheese
  Maasdam cheese
  Maasdam cheese is a Dutch cheese in a Swiss-style. Made from cow's milk, it is aged for at least 4 weeks. It ripens faster than other Dutch cheeses. Maasdam has internal holes from the ripening process, and a smooth yellow rind. Sometimes it is waxed like Gouda. The cheese was created to compete...
  
  
• Emmental (cheese)
  Emmental (cheese)
  Emmental or Emmentaler is a cheese from Switzerland. It is sometimes known as Swiss cheese in North America, Australia and New Zealand, although Swiss cheese does not always imply Emmentaler....