The art of squeaky cheese

I’VE long been a fan of the squeaky GreekCypriot cheese haloumi. There’s no other cheese that can be fried, grilled or simmered without melting or falling apart — and it tastes so incredibly delicious.

Haloumi’s neutral sweet saltiness takes happily to a multitude of different flavours — just to start with the c’s, think chilli, chorizo, cumin, curry, coriander, citrus and chipotle.

You can marinate it in lemon and rosemary and barbecue it, grate it into a fritter batter, pile it on to a pizza, simmer it in a vegetable stew or panfry it and toss it through a salad or pasta with asparagus or pesto or fire it into a burger with a grilled portobello mushroom, salad fixings and a garlicky aioli.

You can even, at a pinch, use haloumi as a substitute for paneer, to make Indian dishes like saag paneer, The main difference is that paneer is a highacid cheese and haloumi is unique for having almost no acid in it at all (high acidity and low acidity both help prevent melting).

While you can eat haloumi raw, it’s designed to be heated. Some of the saltiness (which comes from brining) fades, and the texture, which starts out a bit like processed mozzarella, becomes more unctuous, creamy and tender. You also get a lovely crisp, caramelised surface, which can be accentuated by adding a little honey or maple syrup before cooking.

Most of the haloumi we can buy here is made from cow’s milk, but premium quality haloumi is made from a mixture of sheep and goat’s milk. Marinating or presoaking haloumi with lemon or other citrus juice, or some other tangy marinade, helps leach out the salt, and also softens the cheese when it cooks, so you avoid that rubbery mouth slap that some brands produce when the cheese is cooked.

For centuries, haloumi was an integral part of the rural diet in Cyprus. Each spring, family and neighbours of each village would come together in a communal production of the cheese, overseen by a woman known as ‘‘galatarka’’ (the cheese woman) who was the most experienced person, usually with the biggest number of animals. For several weeks everyone would be involved in this cooperative affair, which was designed to ensure that everyone had enough cheese to last them for a full year.

The name of the cheese derives from the Greek word ‘‘almi’’ (salty water), which relates to the salty brine in which the cheese is stored, and which allows for its preservation.

Packaged haloumi will last unopened for a year under refrigeration. Once you have opened the pack, use it within a few days or pop it in the freezer — it freezes well.

The art of making this cheese was once a revered secret that was passed down from generation to generation. But actually it’s a doddle to make and one of the most satisfying cheeses to prepare, because you can use it almost as soon as it’s made.