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> You would be extremely hard-pressed to tell "authentic" Feta cheese apart from "Feta-like" cheese produced in any number of places around the world. That's n

> You would be extremely hard-pressed to tell "authentic" Feta cheese apart from "Feta-like" cheese produced in any number of places around the world. That's not true, because most feta produced outside Greece is made with cow's milk, rather than sheep and goat's milk. In Greece it's made with sheep and goat's milk. Why does that make any difference? First, because cow's milk is relatively tasteless compared to sheep and goat's milk. Goat's milk in particular has a strong "gamey" flavour and sheep's milk is also "heavier" than cow's milk. Sheep's milk also has a different composition than cow's milk. Depending on breeds and season, sheep's milk has almost double the amount of fats and proteins (caseins and whey proteins) than cow's milk (and also goat's milk, which is about the same as cow's milk in composition). More importantly, feta made with sheep and goat's milk has a piquant taste imparted by the lipolysis that is the result of lipases found particularly in goat's milk. Although to be fair, lipases are nowadays added to cheese milk as an additive, because they are destroyed by pasteurisation (and most Greek cheeses are not made with raw milk). However in practice lipases are never added to cow's milk "feta" possibly because consumers used to cow's milk "feta" don't expect it to be spicy-hot, as real feta should be. There's also various other organoleptic characteristics that distinguish sheep and goat's milk cheeses from cow's milk, for example the firmness of the paste - more elastic in cow's milk cheeses, more crumbly in sheep and goat's cheeses. etc. etc. tl;dr, yes, you can absolutely tell the difference between Greek feta and "feta" from outside Greece, provided you know what Greek feta tastes like. Which I think you probably don't. I think you're just assuming that it must all be a big bunch of lies to sell cheese that's just the same as any cheese. Well, it's not.

DiogenesKynikos 5y ago
I've had feta in Greece and feta elsewhere in the Balkans. The range of differences between feta cheeses produced in different parts of Greece is not necessarily smaller than the difference between a feta produced in Epirus (Northwest Greece) and Albania (possibly even by Greek Albanians!). The geographic indication is nonsensical if the point is to ensure uniform quality or taste. It sounds like what you're most worried about is Northern European producers using cow's milk, but there are producers throughout the Eastern Mediterranean using sheep's and goat's milk.
- cheese_goddess 5y ago
  There are sheep and goat's milk cheeses made in the Mediterrannean and in the Balkans and as far as Romania, yes, but those cheeses are not made in the same way as feta and they have a different character than feta. For example Sirene, a Romanian cheese is sometimes made with sheep and goat's milk, but it's a softer and overall milder cheese than feta. They would taste same-y to anyone unused to eating for example feta or sirene, but not to Greeks and Romanians. Cheese made across the border from Epirus in Albania (careful: the Greek-speaking Orthodox minority in Albania are Northern Epirotes, not "Greek Albanians") may be very similar, but it's not called "feta" in Albanian. I don't know what it's called to be honest, but "feta" is the name traditionally used by Greeks. So in this case it wouldn't make sense to call it "feta" even if it has a similar character to feta. Which, to be honest, I don't know because I haven't tasted that cheese. Anyway the point is that you can tell feta apart from ""Feta-like" cheese produced in any number of places around the world", contrary to what you said. And in any case, it seems to me very likely that before reading my comment you didn't realise that feta is not made with cow's milk, as most people don't, so I think you should concede that your original comment was made given incomplete information.
  - DiogenesKynikos 5y ago
    > those cheeses are not made in the same way as feta and they have a different character than feta That depends on which cheese we're talking about. There's enough variation between different Greek fetas that lumping then all into one group and excluding other closely related cheeses does not make sense, from a purely culinary point of view. > Cheese made across the border from Epirus in Albania ... may be very similar, but it's not called "feta" in Albanian. And that's the point. The distinction is purely national and linguistic. White briny cheese made with goat's and sheep's milk in Epirus and southern Albania are not treated differently by the EU because of intrinsic differences between the cheeses. They're treated differently because the Greek government was able to successfully lobby for a geographical indication that excludes cheeses produced outside its borders.
    - cheese_goddess 5y ago

DiogenesKynikos 5y ago

I've had feta in Greece and feta elsewhere in the Balkans. The range of differences between feta cheeses produced in different parts of Greece is not necessarily smaller than the difference between a feta produced in Epirus (Northwest Greece) and Albania (possibly even by Greek Albanians!). The geographic indication is nonsensical if the point is to ensure uniform quality or taste. It sounds like what you're most worried about is Northern European producers using cow's milk, but there are producers throughout the Eastern Mediterranean using sheep's and goat's milk.

cheese_goddess 5y ago
There are sheep and goat's milk cheeses made in the Mediterrannean and in the Balkans and as far as Romania, yes, but those cheeses are not made in the same way as feta and they have a different character than feta. For example Sirene, a Romanian cheese is sometimes made with sheep and goat's milk, but it's a softer and overall milder cheese than feta. They would taste same-y to anyone unused to eating for example feta or sirene, but not to Greeks and Romanians. Cheese made across the border from Epirus in Albania (careful: the Greek-speaking Orthodox minority in Albania are Northern Epirotes, not "Greek Albanians") may be very similar, but it's not called "feta" in Albanian. I don't know what it's called to be honest, but "feta" is the name traditionally used by Greeks. So in this case it wouldn't make sense to call it "feta" even if it has a similar character to feta. Which, to be honest, I don't know because I haven't tasted that cheese. Anyway the point is that you can tell feta apart from ""Feta-like" cheese produced in any number of places around the world", contrary to what you said. And in any case, it seems to me very likely that before reading my comment you didn't realise that feta is not made with cow's milk, as most people don't, so I think you should concede that your original comment was made given incomplete information.
- DiogenesKynikos 5y ago
  > those cheeses are not made in the same way as feta and they have a different character than feta That depends on which cheese we're talking about. There's enough variation between different Greek fetas that lumping then all into one group and excluding other closely related cheeses does not make sense, from a purely culinary point of view. > Cheese made across the border from Epirus in Albania ... may be very similar, but it's not called "feta" in Albanian. And that's the point. The distinction is purely national and linguistic. White briny cheese made with goat's and sheep's milk in Epirus and southern Albania are not treated differently by the EU because of intrinsic differences between the cheeses. They're treated differently because the Greek government was able to successfully lobby for a geographical indication that excludes cheeses produced outside its borders.
  - cheese_goddess 5y ago