This cheese is made by the combination of cow, sheep and goat milk and these are also known as moldy cheese, not everyone likes this kind of cheese. St. Agur and Big Woods Blue are the two examples of Moldy cheese. This cheese is known for its old or moldy look. This cheese is usually blue or blue-green in color. Penicillium glaucoma is injected with a specific strand of mold and due to this they get the moldy appearance. It is usually aged in a temperature control environment. The smell and taste of Bleu cheese are very distinctive with a salty and sharp flavor.
Swiss cheese
This is a very famous type of cheese from Switzerland. All over the cheese there are holes which are known as eyes. A sharper flavor is produced by the bacteria and enzymes with a longer aging and high temperature and also as the holes on the cheese are larger the flavor is more pronounced. This type of cheese has a different look with holes and the flavor is nutty, bitter yet sweet. The only disadvantage of this cheese is that it does not slice well and also falls apart at certain times.
Feta cheese
This type of cheese is made with the combination of goat milk and sheep milk. It is originally from Greek, white in color and comes in the form of soft to semi-firm cheese. This cheese requires a long aging process and has to be matured for several months. It comes in different flavors like, salty and tangy or mild to sharp flavor. The flavor depends up on its aging process. It is usually shaped into squares and crumbles easily. Generally used in baking purposes can also be used as a table cheese, in pastries and salads. http://www.knownnews.com/world/types-of-cheese/
The villagers begin to pick the olives from mid-November and continue in the more remote and inaccessible high areas until February. They aim to pick the fruit just as it becomes ripe and this ripening takes longer on the mountainsides and the bigger trees. Ideally, a few showers of rain will have fallen to wash the dust from the trees before the arduous task of picking begins. Weather is mixed and unpredictable in the Cretan winter, if the sun is out its warm, but when it’s in and the wind is blowing it can be very cold.
In days gone by the whole family would go together, with some wine, bread, cheese and fruit as sustenance, to beat the olives from the trees with sticks. Things have been made easier by modern technology in the form of a mechanical strimmer-like device with rubbery fingers that rotate and knock the olives from the branches. Nets spread below each tree catch the fruit that is then put in hessian sacks and transported to the pressing station at the end of the day.
The pressing station is located a few hundred metres from the village of Kavousi along the road that winds between olive groves to the beach at Tholos. There a church and two or three houses look out over a view that captivates all who see it. The combination of towering mountains, olive groves and islands rising from a deep blue sea is enchanting. Look closely and you can see a strange historical coupling of Roman ruins and Second World War pillboxes set back from the beach. Tholos was an important harbour in Minoan times and a village, long since disappeared, grew up close by.
The villagers are keen to leave their olives for pressing and stack them on pallets marked with the family name. The variety of transport used is amazing as it ranges from state-of-the-art four-wheel drives, through battered old pick-up trucks to strange three-wheeled contraptions which double as rotavators and ending, of course, with donkeys. Workers then weigh the fruit and tip it into a hopper where the process begins.
A blower removes leaves and other debris as the olives are scattered across a flat, perforated metal plate en route to a quick wash in cold water. They then drop into a large trough with a spiral rotating blunt blade that gently crushes the olives, this is a modern equivalent of the millstone known as the ‘ synolea ‘ method. Water is added to create a paste that is loaded into the first of two centrifuges. These work by separating constituents of different density. Firstly, the solid residue, known as ‘pomace’ is separated from the liquid and, secondly, the oil is separated from the fruit juices and water. The resulting oil is piped into huge 100 tonne tanks to settle and recover. The process involves no heat or chemicals and produces an entirely natural product.
The pomace is taken away to a factory where further oil is extracted by chemical means; see the section entitled ‘What is Extra Virgin’. Very little is wasted.
Having settled for a month or two the oil is tested for acidity (% of Oleic Acid per 100 grammes) and is filtered twice to remove any small solids in suspension before being bottled or canned. The Co-operative has two grades of oil, the finest being less than 0.5% acidity and the slightly lower grade less than 0.9%. Both are classified as extra-virgin and are amongst the finest you will taste anywhere in the world.
Bottling and canning takes place on demand and is a largely hand-operated process where a villager, by operating a lever, can fill two 5-litre cans or four bottles at a time. The only automated section is the labelling machine. You will see that the simple labels represent, in their own way, the rustic charm of this oil.
The villagers admit that the process they use, although producing the optimum result, came about by accident. Picking the olives early maintains their freshness and quality and avoids tainting the oil with over-ripe fruit. Transporting relatively small amounts in nets or hessian sacking, stacking on pallets and processing quickly minimises crushing and sweating. The result is that the olives are in the very best condition possible. This, together with the soil, climate and the very unique Koroneiki olive gives the oil a taste apart from all others. It truly represents the spirit and nature of the island, conjuring up images of the ancient and highly developed Minoans using and treasuring that very same oil.
