Why choosing smoked Halloumi?

Buy Outstandingly delicious Smoked Halloumi.

It was smoked with  Apples, Cherries, and Alder wood chips.

What Is Halloumi?

Halloumi is a semi-hard, brined cheese native to Cyprus.

Halloumi has an exceptionally high melting point because the curds are heated before being brined and shaped.

This allows smoked Halloumi to be crisp instead of melted when grilled or fried.

That crispy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside character has given

Halloumi’s moniker is “the squeaky grilling cheese.”

Our Halloumi is mildly salty and almost nutty in flavour.

Halloumi  is a cheese made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk,

and sometimes also cow’s milk.

 Its texture is described as squeaky.

 It has a high melting point and can easily be fried or grilled, making it a popular meat substitute.

Rennet (mostly vegetarian or microbial) is used to curdle the milk in halloumi production,

 although no acid-producing bacteria are used in its preparation.^[6]

Halloumi is widespread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.

 It became widely available in Turkey after 2000.

Etymology

The English name halloumi is derived from Modern Greek:

χαλλούμι [xaˈlumi], khalloúmi, from Cypriot Maronite Arabic xallúm,

 Ultimately, from Egyptian Arabic: حلوم ḥallūm [ħalˈluːm].

The Egyptian Arabic word is itself a loanword from Coptic

ϩⲁⲗⲱⲙ halōm (Sahidic) and ⲁⲗⲱⲙ alōm (Bohairic)

and was used for cheese eaten in medieval Egypt.

The name of the cheese likely goes back to the Demotic word ḥlm “cheese”

attested in manuscripts and ostraca from 2nd-century Roman Egypt.

The Cypriot Turkish name hellim derives from this source,

as does the name of the different modern Egyptian cheese hâlûmi.

Production

Production of smoked halloumi cheese involves several key steps.

The first step of halloumi production involves the coagulation of the milk to make curds.

This occurs by stirring rennet into the milk mixture whilst keeping it at a temperature of 30–34 °C

until the milk coagulates (which takes approximately 30–45 minutes).

Once the curd is formed, it is then cut, reheated and stirred to increase its firmness.

The curds are then added to special moulds and pressed until enough whey has been removed.^[38]

The next step of production involves boiling the pressed curds in hot whey.

for at least 30 minutes during a process known as scalding.

 This is the most crucial step in halloumi production as it contributes to the characteristic texture of the cheese.

The cooked pieces are then removed from the whey and are salted and garnished with

fresh or dried mint (Mentha viridis) leaves.

They are then folded and stored in salted whey for 1–3 days

before being packed in airtight containers, ready to be sold and consumed.