Manouri

Manouri cheese a curd cheese, produced in Thessaly, Central Macedonia and Western Macedonia from sheep milk or in combination with goat milk. It is also produced from curd and fresh full-fat milk or even fresh cream. It has a 60% maximum humidity and 70% minimum dry fat content. It is a soft cheese with a compact mass. It has a pleasant, sweet taste with a characteristic aroma. The best qualities come from curd from hard cheeses.

It is a soft white cheese, without external rind with compact mass and no holes. Its mass is compact with no holes or cuts. It is found in various sizes and weights.

For its production, both cheese-milk and cream are necessary. These are centrifuged to get rid of coagulation grains, and then enriched with sheep cream or goat cream so as to obtain a fat content of 2.5%. The mixture is then warmed up and constantly stirred at 88-90^oC for 40-45 minutes. When the temperature of the cheese-milk reaches approximately 70-75 ^oC, 1% of salt is added and sheep or goat milk or their cream at a proportion of 25%. Around 80^oC, the first flakes appear from the proteins; the stirring process is then decelerated. The warming process continues until a temperature of 88-90 ^oC is reached. The cheese is then transported into cloth sacks for draining. The draining process lasts for 4-5 hours. The cheese is then placed in cooling maintenance booths with a temperature of 4-5 ^oC, where it stays until its consumption.