Olive oil
Oil extracted from olive fruit serves as cooking fat, flavouring and, in some cheese methods, an exterior treatment. Grade, cultivar, processing and storage shape its character.
Traditional method
Graviera, Cypriot sheep-milk method
Graviera
This Cypriot graviera is a hard sheep-milk cheese with a dry rind and round eyes. Its curd is heated, pressed and dry-salted before a long cool ripening.
History
Graviera is a hard ripened cheese with a smooth dry rind and rounded eyes formed during propionic fermentation. The Cypriot preparation is described as a local adaptation of Swiss Emmental, with Greece named as its area of origin and Cyprus as its production area. Related Greek cheeses are called Agrafa, Pindos and Skyros; these names do not make the Cypriot method identical to their regional preparations.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Sheep milkStandardize to 2.5–3% fat; 100 kg is the reference basis for rennet and yield.
100 kg
RennetAdd 2–2.5 g per 100 kg milk.
2–2.5 g per 100 kg milk
SaltDry-salt for 10–20 days; reported finished salt content is about 2–3%.
Amount not stated
Surface-salting dose not specifiedDiluted brine (optional)Use as an alternative to olive oil for coating the rind.
Amount not stated
Optional rind coating, dilution not specifiedOlive oil (optional)Use as an alternative to diluted brine for coating the rind.
Amount not stated
Optional rind coating, amount not specifiedMethod
Risks and precautions · High risk
Raw-milk pathogens and handling contamination
The method begins with unheated milk; milk and handling can introduce pathogens.
Hazard sourceGeneral home-cheesemaking guidance calls for pasteurizing raw milk and cleaning and sanitizing equipment, food-contact surfaces and hands, with proper curd handling and cooling. Pasteurization changes the unheated preparation described here.
Control sourceThis preparation begins with unheated milk. Home-cheesemaking guidance calls for pasteurizing raw milk and preventing contamination from hands, utensils and surfaces; pasteurization changes this documented method.
- Use sheep milk standardized to 2.5–3% fat, with acidity of 16–18°D. Leave the milk unheated and add no starter.
- Add 2–2.5 g rennet per 100 kg milk and leave to coagulate for 25–30 minutes at 33–36°C.
- Cut the curd into 0.5 cm pieces. Stir for 5–10 minutes at 33–36°C, then raise the temperature to 48–52°C over 30–40 minutes. Hold at 48–52°C for another 10–25 minutes.
- Let the curd settle, gather it in cheesecloth and place it in a mould. Press under increasing pressure for 12–16 hours.
- Remove from the mould and dry-salt the surface for 10–20 days. If coating the rind, use diluted brine or olive oil.
- Ripen for 90–120 days at 12–18°C and 85–95% relative humidity.
Conditions
Temperature12–52°C
Temperature controlMulti-stage
Humidity85–95%
Cultures
Natural fermentation flora — No starter is added. Propionic fermentation forms the eyes; the described method does not identify the responsible species or a defined inoculum.
Maturation
FAO specifies 85–95% humidity and 90–120 days at 12–18°C.
Places
Cyprus
Documented preparation · Country evidenceFAO lists all Cyprus as production area and Greece as area of origin; it does not provide a specific locality.
Greece
Traditional preparation · Country evidenceGreece is named as the area of origin and home of related regional cheeses; this country association does not identify a locality or make the Cypriot method a Greek PDO preparation.
Related
Made from
Rennet and other milk coagulants
Rennet is an enzyme preparation that helps milk form a cuttable curd. Animal, microbial, fermentation-produced and plant coagulants have distinct identities and strengths.
Salt
Food-grade sodium chloride seasons food and changes water movement in brines and cures; crystal size and the recipe's measurement method matter.
Sheep milk
Milk from a ewe, used in cheese and cultured dairy foods. Its protein, fat and solids vary with the animal and season; it contains lactose and milk allergens.
More from Cyprus
Kashkaval, traditional sheep-milk method
Kashkaval is a firm sheep-milk cheese whose acidified curd is worked in hot brine. This large-batch method finishes with repeated dry salting, wax coating and cool ripening.
Related in the family
Aarchi and kurut (Altai dried curd)
A two-stage Altai dairy preparation: sour chegen is heated into soft aarchi, then portions are drained, pressed and traditionally smoked into firm kurut.
Baby-Swiss-style cheese
A washed-curd cheese with propionic bacteria, warmed by hot water in two steps and then held in a warm room for weeks so the bacteria can form its holes.
Beyaz peynir
Beyaz peynir is a Turkish white cheese matured in brine. Sheep milk, alone or mixed with other milks, gives a close-textured cheese cut into blocks and packed in cans.
Brie, cream-enriched
A cream-enriched Brie with a white bloomy rind and a softening center, made from pasteurized milk with lactic and surface cultures.
Brocciu
Corsican Brocciu is a whey cheese made by heating sheep's or goat's whey with whole milk and salt, then gently draining the flocculated curds. It is eaten fresh or salted and ripened as Brocciu passu.
Budz (Hutsul rennet cheese)
Budz is a traditional Hutsul rennet-set cheese made from sheep, cow or goat milk in the Ukrainian Carpathians, forming a fresh curd that can be eaten, smoked or processed into salted bryndza.
Canestrato-style basket cheese
A scalded cheese moulded in baskets and re-cooked in its forms in hot whey, made alongside a ricotta from the same milk, then acidified, brined and aged for months.
Cheddar-style cheese
A pressed cheese whose curd is cooked slowly, then cheddared: kept warm in slabs that are turned and stacked for hours before milling, salting and pressing.
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Sources
FAOHistory · Process · Microbiology
The technology of traditional milk products in developing countriesGraviera origin/production and milk, curd process, rennet dose, heating and pressing, salt endpoint, ripening ranges and yield.
New Mexico State University ExtensionSafety
Making Homemade CheeseRaw-milk cheese pathogen context; not validation of the FAO process.