Fabulous Feta! (Feta)

Member Name: themoomin

Product:	Feta
Date:	14/03/01 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ho hum

Disadvantages: fiddle dee dee

Fèted by moomins everywhere, and certainly not fetid (groan) this crumbly cheese is a regular inhabitant of my fridge, and lives happily alongside the Halloumi and the Stilton!

Feta is considered the national cheese of Greece, although it is also made in other parts of the world. It was originally made only from goats/sheep's milk but nowadays cow's milk is often used.
This cheese is not cooked or pressed, but briefly cured in a salty solution which gives it is characteristic taste. Its texture is semi-soft and crumbly, and it is a brilliant white.

Taste? I would describe it as sharp and salty. It does not have a 'cheesey' flavour like cheddar or red Leicester, and the texture is unique - it melts in the mouth.

What do you do with it? Feta can be used in many ways, probably the most well-known is cubed, drizzled with olive oil and tossed in salads. It is lovely crumbled over a jacket potato, or into cous-cous. It can be served with fruits or fruit salad, and is the perfect partner to good olives. Or, in true moomin fashion, you can eat it on its own! In great big chunks! (drool)

So where can you get it? Well, I have done some research in my local Sainsbury's especially for dooyoo, and here are the results:

Greek Organic Feta - 200g - £2.29
This is a new product in my store, so I have not yet tasted it. Its on my list though. I predict that it is lovely!

French Feta - 200g - £2.09
I have tried this one, but found it rather bland compared to the others, so I don't buy it.

Greek Feta - 200g - £1.99
This is very nice, with a fine flavour but for some reason isn't always in stock.

SO themoomin ENDORSES . . . . . (drum roll) . . . . .

Cyprus Feta - 200g - £1.89
The maker is PITTAS (they also make the best Halloumi), the texture and flavour are unsurpassable, and this cheese disappears very quickly in the moomin house. Also it?s the chea
pest, so good news all round!

Sainsbury's also do little 'snack-packs' of feta with olives in olive oil and herbs for 99p. These can be found alongside the feta in the continental cheese section. I haven't tried these though, as I prefer to buy a tub of the 'mixed olives with feta cheese' from the deli counter, which is absolutely delicious!

So there you have it. Feta cheese. If you decide to try some, I recommend that once opened you take it out of the plastic and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. It may well 'weep' a little, but this is due to the brine and is perfectly natural. It will keep for at least a week this way, if you can resist it that long!

A spot of trivia - in Homer's 'Odyssey', a cyclops by the name of Polyphemus made cheese from sheep's milk, and ripened it in his cave. Was this the ancient ancestor of the Feta produced in Greece today??

People are looking at me strangely. Oh dear, I seem to be salivating . . . aarrrrgh!

See what you doo too me, dooyoo?!

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