Ios cheese for a tasty seduction

Once upon a time, Ios island counted more than 50.000 animals including goats, sheep and cows too. Thus, cheese was always holding a leading role in the island. Amigdalota, mizithropitakia and kalsounia were all cooked by fresh mizithra cheese, sugar, eggs and mastic to adorn the festive home table. Mizithra cheese was also offered during Halloween.

Housewives used to prepare pasta (made of their own flour) by dredging it to local mizithra. Nowadays, Ios becomes one of the most popular places for the production of fresh cheese. The island’s inventive inhabitants have created unique recipes of dairy products with exceptional flavor and taste too. Thus, you should absolutely visit a local restaurant, try some of the island’s most popular cheese types (listed below) and accompany them with ouzo and/or raki drink:

Niotiko kefalotyri: An especially hard cheese made of sheep and goat milk from animals raised on the island of Ios.

Graviera: A hard cheese made of cow's milk. Fits great in all the recipes of the Aegean cuisine.

Ksino: A spreadable white cheese with a slightly sour taste. You can try it with fresh Greek salad and Dakos salad too (Cretan salad).

Skotyri: A spreadable cheese with spicy flavor produced in the island’s mountains.

Mizithra: A soft cheese made by adding a small amount of milk.

By: Mary Kallivoka

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