🧀 Xygalo Siteias

Xygalo Siteias is a white, pasty or grainy, rindless cheese from eastern Crete, of goat's or sheep's milk. It tastes fresh, tangy and slightly salty, and forms as the milk sours. Protection was sought in 2008, and the name entered the EU register as a PDO in 2011. ¹³

Why it is less salty. Similar spreadable cheeses take their salt in the drained curd, but here it is dissolved in the milk before souring, at up to 2% by weight. The finished cheese thus has at most 1.5%. Moisture reaches 75%, fat in dry matter is 33–46%: less than its neighbours, because excess fat and butter are skimmed off. ³

How it is made. The milk is cooled to 25 °C, given salt, starter and a little rennet, and soured for 7–10 days at 15–20 °C in covered vessels. It then matures for about a month at 10–15 °C, and the curd is never stirred throughout. The whey collects at the bottom, and the cheese is stored at up to 4 °C. Cheese from unpasteurised milk must spend at least 2 months in the cold before sale. ³

Where the tradition comes from. Sitia has over 700 plant species on 786 km² and, in the south of the district, the most sunshine hours in Greece. Clay cheese vessels were found in a Minoan house at Palaikastro, and records from 1347–1450 mention cheese shipped from Sitia's port to Venice, Alexandria and Cyprus. Xygalo used to be made at home and in stone huts (mitato), in clay jars (kouroupia) with a bottom hole for whey. ³

Why it matters to you. Look for the name with the PDO mark; it is packed only in the area, in packs of up to 5 kg, with a separate mark if the milk is raw. It keeps at most six months after production and has no rind, so eat it soon after opening. Serve it as a starter. The recipe may include rennet. ³