Myzithra
Myzithra ( modern Greek μυζήθρα probably metathesis of Middle Greek ζυμήθρα zymithra ) or Anthotyro ( Greek ανθότυρο "cream cheese") is an unpasteurized soft cheese with a high fat content, which is made from sheep and goat whey with the addition of milk in Crete and other parts of Greece . Myzithra is one of the oldest known whey cheeses. Very fresh, it is similar in consistency and taste to Italian ricotta ; it is also white and slightly sweet and creamy. The loaf is usually given the shape of a trimmed cone.
If you let it ripen in the air, rubbed with salt, a strong-tasting cheese is created, which can also be grated in the most ripened, hardest state. The naming is regionally inconsistent; in the west of Crete the ripe variant is called Myzithra and the fresh form Anthotyro , in the east it is the other way around. Another variant with a sour taste is called Xynomyzithra ( Greek Ξυνομυζήθρα ); the name Xynomycithra Kritis is a protected designation of origin of the Xynomycithra produced in Crete . The first form of cheese as a soft cream cheese with a sweet taste is often served with honey as dessert, or as mezes with olives and tomatoes.
Presumably the name of the Peloponnesian city and Byzantine castle Mystras derives from the cone-shaped, white cheese wheel.
Myzithra is traditionally used as a cheese for cheesecake in Greece.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Γεώργιος Μπαμπινιώτης (Georgios Babiniotis): Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας (Lexicon of the Modern Greek Language) . Β 'Έκδοση 2nd edition. Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, 2005, ISBN 960-86190-1-7 , p. 1152 .
