Féta vs Sirene - it's not the same cheese
Not every white brined cheese is created equal, although most of them look the same.
While being a guest to Doug F's podcast, we briefly mentioned féta and I said the kind of féta cheese that's sold in the Western world is more like butter on texture than the actual white cheese we produce in the Balkans, whether is the Bulgarian sirene or the Greek féta. Now it's time to clarify my words by describing both varieties.
The milk
The beauty of the white brined cheese is the total flexibility when it comes to the choice of milk. You can literally take any kind of milk and turn it into the same type of cheese here, without too much hassle. Goat cheese is probably the rarest and most unpopular in the Balkans, due to the specific taste, sheep cheese holds the "delicacy" market niche while cow cheese is the mainstream.
Credit: Anita Jankovic/Unsplash
This is where the differences start to emerge, as the Greek féta is made either with sheep or a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. Because EU has some food laws, to use the name "Féta", the cheese have to comply with recipe regulations. That's not valid in the US and I've seen with my own eyes only féta made with either cow or buffalo's milk there. So technically that's not a féta, even though it's using the name.
The Bulgarian sirene is traditionally made with cow's milk and although here you can buy every possible animal milk variety, the trademarked version is cow's milk only. So the biggest difference by far is the taste, regardless of the shared technology of making. But different kinds of milk bring much more differences than just taste.
The texture
White cheese traditionally sits in a salt brine for a certain period to get ripe and ready to eat. Depending on the type of milk, that time will vary and so will the content of salt within the cheese, as well as the overall texture. In fact, the texture alone is enough for me to recognise féta and sirene with a single touch of a finger, while blindfolded - it's that obvious.
Greek Féta - Credit: Galya Fanaseva/Pixabay
Féta has softer, more creamy texture, and that's valid for both the original Greek variety and the Western cow's milk "féta". But this is where the similarities end, because the original féta still retains some crumbliness, while the cow "féta" is closer to butter than an actual cheese. To add more differences, the cow's variety lacks even the slightest pores - it's just smooth and continuous, which is uncharacteristic for any white brined cheese. How they can get it so wrong is beyond me.
Bulgarian sirene - Credit: Galya Fanaseva/Pixabay
And I'm saying that because... Hello, the Bulgarian sirene variety is made exactly of cow's milk. And it's not creamy at all. Well, it can be, but then it's called "Krema Sirene" and becomes a sandwich spread. It's harder than Greek féta, it's crumblier and denser. But the real surprises of how are they different comes in the supposedly similar technology.
The preparations
Because Greek féta nowadays is mostly mixture of sheep and goat's milk (usually 70/30 percent), the curing process between those two occurs while in the brine. And because different milk requires different time to get ripe, the féta stays in a less salty brine for at least two months. With that said, those 30% of goat's milk require just a touch more time than that. So the overall result is creamier, because the goat's part of the cheese is slightly unripe, giving the unique signature taste of the Greek féta known around the Balkans and Europe.
Greek salad - Credit: Galya Fanaseva/Pixabay
The Bulgarian sirene on the other hand does not contain any mixtures of milk, meaning it can tolerate much saltier brine and get ripe in 40 to 45 days. The result of the faster process is a bit saltier, less creamy, more crumbly and harder. Compared to féta, there's a distinct lack of characteristic cheese smell, but the general taste is full-bodied and notably more assertive. While most people would tell you that there isn't much of standard for making sirene, the actual product follows two very important and tight tolerances - 46 to 48 percent dry mass when ripe and out of the brine, and 44 to 48 percent of milk fat.
the same and yet different
That's the best conclusion I can think of right now, as every Balkan country have their own white brined cheese. You can't get wrong with either sirene or féta, as long as you check the ingredients in the latter. Sheep's milk is féta, a mixture of sheep and goat's milk is also féta. Cow's milk with féta technology is . . butter (I'd go for garbage, but "féta" producers might be offended) and everything properly crumbly is a Balkan variety of sirene. And if you want to really have something nice - find yourself Cypriot halloumi cheese and grill it. I promise, you'll fall in love with it.
Bulgarian Shopska salad - Credit: Anestiev/Pixabay
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Comments (1)
Once again, another great article. Thanks for the mention! I will have to see if I can find something closer to what you described. has been wanting me to try halloumi cheese