Anari

Made from the whey the halloumi was lifted out of, which is why the two cheeses are made in one afternoon or not at all.

Not vegetarian — contains halloumi whose rennet the source does not name, rennet the source does not identify as animal or microbial.

Ingredients

• 4 litres hot whey, saved from making halloumi, as on its own page
• 300 ml whole milk
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method

1. IT IS MADE FROM THE WHEY THE HALLOUMI WAS LIFTED OUT OF, which is why the two cheeses are made in one afternoon or not at all. Four litres of whey still holds the albumin proteins that rennet does not coagulate -- the ones left behind when the curd was cut. Brought up past 90°C those proteins come out of solution as a fine white floc that rises to the surface, and that floc is anari. There is no other way to get it: you cannot make anari from milk, and whey that has gone cold and stood overnight gives a fraction of the yield because the proteins have begun to break down. The halloumi page ends by telling you to keep the whey hot, and this page is the reason.
2. IT IS TAKEN HOTTER THAN THE HALLOUMI EVER WAS. The halloumi simmered gently; this needs 90°C or more, almost to the boil, and held there. Albumin does not denature at simmering temperature, and a pan kept at 80°C will sit there clear for half an hour and yield nothing -- which reads exactly like a failed recipe and is only an under-heated one.
3. A LITTLE MILK GOES IN AND ROUGHLY DOUBLES THE YIELD. Three hundred millilitres into four litres of whey. The whey is thin in protein by definition, and the added milk gives the floc something to build on. It is not strictly necessary and the difference in what you collect is obvious.
4. IT IS NOT STIRRED ONCE THE FLOC APPEARS. The particles are extremely fine and a spoon breaks them up small enough to go straight through the cloth. Once the surface starts to go cloudy and gather, the pan is left alone and the floc is skimmed off the top with a slotted spoon.
5. IT IS EATEN FRESH OR SALTED AND DRIED, AND THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Drained an hour, it is soft, mild and faintly sweet -- eaten with honey or in a shamishi. Salted hard and dried a fortnight, it goes firm enough to grate and is used like a hard cheese. Both are anari and it is worth deciding which before starting.
6. The whey from the halloumi KEPT HOT and NOT allowed to cool or stand overnight.
7. The milk stirred into it.
8. Brought up to 90°C or just under boiling, over a medium heat, stirred gently ONLY until it reaches temperature.
9. HELD there 10 to 15 MINUTES.
10. WATCHED for the surface to go cloudy and a fine white FLOC to gather and rise.
11. FROM THIS POINT NOT STIRRED AT ALL.
12. The floc skimmed off the surface with a slotted spoon into a cloth-lined colander.
13. Skimmed repeatedly as more rises, until the liquid below runs clear and greenish.
14. Drained 1 HOUR for a soft fresh anari, lightly salted.
15. OR: salted heavily, pressed into a ball, and dried on a rack in a cool airy place 2 WEEKS for a hard grating anari.
16. TESTED, fresh: it should be soft, mild and faintly sweet, with no squeak at all -- it is the opposite of the cheese it came from.
17. The fresh kind keeps 4 days and goes into shamishi, as on its own page, or is eaten with honey.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Cyprus · All recipes