Baked feta with honey (2024)

FAQs

What type of feta is best for baking? ›

Use quality feta cheese.

Find creamy Greek feta. French or Bulgarian white cheese will work great too (which are like feta but can not be given the term because Greece has the PDO for the term "feta"). Do not use crumbled feta, which is too dry and will not work as well in this recipe.

Feta is usually eaten uncooked, but may also be eaten cooked. Common ways to enjoy uncooked feta include sprinkled over salads, mixed into dips, and even whipped and topped on sandwiches. Spinach and feta are often paired together in casseroles, sandwiches, and wraps.

Feta cheese. By law cow milk can't even get near feta in Greece, while feta produced in several other countries, including the U.S., is often made with cow milk. This creates an entirely different cheese that does not melt into a creamy sauce as well as sheep milk feta does.

It pairs well with fruit, like watermelon or peaches, but is equally as delicious with crunchy cucumbers or hearty collard greens. From side dishes to mains, there are so many ways to put feta to good use.

She explained that French feta, made of 100% sheep's milk, is the least salty of the three. Bulgarian may be made of sheep and/or goat, while Greek feta will be primarily sheep's milk and sometimes up to 30% goat's milk ― both are a little saltier than French.

Feta cheese contains good amounts of a fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Animal studies suggest this fatty acid appears to improve body composition by reducing body fat and increasing lean mass. Cheese made from sheep's milk has higher levels of CLA.

If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, or diabetes, you may need to limit or even avoid eating feta cheese. Contains lactose: Feta cheese is unripened, meaning that it contains more lactose than matured cheese. As a result, you may need to avoid it if you are lactose intolerant or allergic.

Feta cheese, which is made from sheeps' milk, contains a protein called histidine. When histidine is combined with vitamin B6, it undergoes a molecular process to become histamine, a compound that provides anti-inflammatory benefits.

Feta doesn't melt due to its low pH (~4.7). While the high amounts of acid means calcium is dissolved from the structure, a pH this low causes proteins to interact strongly with each other.

Cooking: Feta melts well, turning soft, not gooey, and maintains its flavor when heated. One way to serve Feta which will blow your mind is to mix it with fresh melon of any kind. It's a life-changer. Check out this recipe, where we pair Feta, melon, and grilled Grouper (yes – FISH!) with Feta.

Which milk is best for feta cheese? ›

While feta cheese made in Greece is typically made with sheep's milk or with a combination of sheep's and goat's milk, many manufacturers in the US make feta with cow's milk.

“So if the product starts to smell yeasty, like proofed bread dough, the product has gone bad.” Harsh, unbalanced flavors: Feta should taste like fresh, mildly tangy dairy. If your feta tastes overly piquant, bitter, rancid, or otherwise unbalanced, it's past its prime.

Now as for meat, the Greeks already figured out long ago which works best with Feta, and that's LAMB. Lamb in itself has a stronger taste than most meats.

The reason for the extra step of “washing” the feta cheese the night before is to remove some of its saltiness. It is a simple procedure, requiring nothing more than changing the water once or twice, and it makes a difference in the way the feta tastes.

Because this type of feta can be sharp, it's best to let Greek feta take center stage. Henderson shares her favorite way to cook with the O.G.: “Greek Feta, so savory and salty, is great for cooking, too.

Feta in block form is also typically of a higher quality than the pre-crumbled variety. (And flavored feta is another situation entirely.)

Barrel-aged Feta tends to be brined the longest, creating a sharper, more complex flavor. Feta produced in baskets or tins ages for less time and is generally lighter in flavor.

Mild and creamy.

French feta is less briny than its peers, and tends to be a bit softer, so it's great whipped (in a blender, if you have one) and served alongside roasted vegetables or spread onto crusty bread.