Kopanisti

Kopanisti is a salty, soft cheese with a creamy texture and a tangy, sharp, spicy or peppery flavour, produced traditionally in the Cyclades from cow's milk, sheep's milk, goat's milk, or a mixture of those milks. Its character derives from rapid and extensive proteolysis and lipolysis generated by abundant microbial growth during a ripening process involving repeated kneading of the cheese mass.

About this designation

Registered as a PDO under file number PDO-GR-0450, with eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013257, Kopanisti received EU protection on 21 June 1996. The protected names as registered are Κοπανιστή and Kopanisti. The geographical area is the Cyclades Prefecture of Greece. The specification permits production from cow's milk, sheep's milk, goat's milk, or any mixture of those milks. The specification sets a maximum moisture content of 56 %. At the stage when drained curds are mixed with salt, fresh butter made from cream obtained by skimming milk produced within the Cyclades area may be added up to a proportion of 15 % to improve texture, flavour, and aroma. To accelerate and partially control ripening, the freshly drained cheese mass may be mixed with mature Kopanisti, known locally as 'mother Kopanisti', up to a proportion of 10 % of its mass. Ripening takes place in wide-necked containers held in a cool place with high relative humidity; the process of allowing microbial growth to develop on the surface and then kneading it uniformly throughout the mass is repeated two to four times during a ripening period that usually lasts from 30 to 40 days. Labelling must indicate the type or types of milk used and any addition of butter.

Source: The register document this entry was written from · retrieved August 26, 2026

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PDO on 21 June 1996 under file number PDO-GR-0450, eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013257.
• The specification permits addition of fresh butter up to 15 % of the cheese mass at the salting stage.
• Mature Kopanisti, called 'mother Kopanisti', may be added to fresh curd up to 10 % of its mass to initiate and guide ripening.
• The ripening process, involving repeated kneading of surface microbial growth back into the cheese mass, usually lasts from 30 to 40 days.

Tasting notes

Cycladic sheep-and-goat-milk cheese POP, distinctive — kneaded fermented cheese with Penicillium-like blue mold, intensely pungent flavor. Greyish color, soft spreadable creamy texture, robust salty-savory blue-cheese-like profile.

HoReCa use

Cycladic mezze; spread on bread; with ouzo and tsipouro.

Packaging

• tub-200g
• tub-300g