The production process

The sheep and goat’s milk is collected from stock breeders of the wider area of the Agrafa and Koziakas mountains, with the use of special cooling tanks (tanks with a cooling mechanism) which have been placed in their holdings in advance. The milk is transferred through the appropriate milk tankers and upon arrival at the dairy unit it is checked and filtered.

Then, it is poured into boiling tanks, where it is agitated and heated in order to be pasteurized or is pasteurized in a pasteurizer.

After the pasteurization process is complete, the milk is cooled and then placed into special tanks, the so-called cheese vats, where microorganisms and rennet are added for the coagulation of the milk. Ca 20 minutes later, the milk is coagulated and turned into curd, which can then be “cut” by the cheese-maker with the use of special knives.

Then, a certain amount of whey is discharged from the curd and the curd is placed in moulds where it is left to be drained off naturally.

During the natural draining process and when the curd has formed a solid mass, it is subjected to surface salting with coarse salt and placed in wooden (barrel) or metal receptors, where brine is added (a solution of salt). According to the law, feta cheese is to be matured for at least 2 months. The maturation process is completed in two phases: the first phase lasts up to 15 days and the second one takes up the remaining period until the 2 month-requirement is met. The first phase of the maturation process takes place in special rooms where the temperature does not exceed 18°C while afterwards feta is moved to another room with a stable temperature of 2-4°C. The humidity during both maturation phases must be maintained at levels of at least 85%.

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