unmelted cheese

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If you ask a Swiss woman what happens if you heat cheese, she says, “It melts. Fondue and raclette are the best proof of that.” The Cypriot woman is different: “Our halloumi does not melt. Halloumi plays an important role in our culinary tradition, whether grilled, fried or boiled.»

It has existed since Cypriot shepherds herded herds of sheep and goats on the sunny island in the eastern Mediterranean. The rustic flavor produced on hearths for centuries is as important as daily bread for Cypriots even today. Halloumi, or Chalúmi as the locals call it, is made from a mixture of sheep’s or goat’s milk and sometimes cow’s milk. The fresh mint leaves are characteristic and completely independent of the milk used.

Halloumi Preparation: It is kneaded and cooked.

To make halloumi, fresh milk is heated to body temperature. Rennet mixed with water, an enzyme found in the stomachs of young ruminants, is added, which initiates the coagulation process crucial to cheese production. The resulting curd mass is carefully divided and briefly heated again. Then the whey is poured. The young cheese is squeezed vigorously and kneaded to make it malleable and malleable before being left to rest for a while. Until then, halloumi production is very similar to mozzarella, except for the milk used: mozzarella is only made from unpasteurized buffalo or cow’s milk. Both types of cheese are reheated after kneading: Mozzarella is boiled in 80°C hot water. Halloumi is boiled in whey for about an hour until it reaches the top. The Cypriot specialty owes its rubbery consistency to this process. After the cheese has cooled down a bit, it is tossed alternately with salt and mint, folded once and pressed to give it its distinctive shape with the slit in the middle.

Why doesn’t my halloumi melt?

Whether a cheese melts when heated depends only on its pH value. Do you remember? Anything with a pH between 0 and 6.9 is acidic: cola, for example, has a pH between 2 and 3, like vinegar. Distilled water with a pH of 7 is neutral, anything above that is alkaline and the scale ends at 14. For a cheese not to melt, its value must be above 5.9. Melted cheese, on the other hand, has a pH below 5.9. Halloumi is therefore less acidic than raclette cheese. Two procedures used in halloumi production are responsible for the high pH: First, no lactic acid bacteria are used to coagulate the milk. Second, the boiling in the whey causes the yeast activity to cease, so the pH cannot drop.

Halloumi for breakfast, lunch and dinner

The numerous ways to prepare halloumi allow for an extremely wide range of recipes. Served with a fried egg, it is part of the Cypriot breakfast. The British, who met cheese in the colonial period, introduced the breakfast combination with white beans and tomato sauce. Fried or grilled halloumi and homemade french fries are staples of many restaurants. Halloumi omelette is common, but halloumi ravioli is also a classic. Those who like the crispy sound of fresh cheese should try with watermelon, grapes and figs, as well as tomatoes and cucumbers.

Source : Blick