Egyptian Cheese: Domiati, Roumy, Mish and More
Egyptian cheese, called gebna in Egyptian Arabic, includes soft, salty white cheeses such as Domiati, a hard yellow cheese called rumi (also spelled Roumy), and a fermented cheese called mish. Cheese is often served with breakfast in Egypt and goes into several traditional dishes, including some desserts.
Many rural people still make their own cheese, especially mish. Mass-produced cheeses are becoming more common.
History of cheese in Egypt
There is evidence of cheesemaking in Egypt over 5,000 years ago, in the time of the First Dynasty. In the Middle Ages, the city of Damietta was famous for its soft white cheese. Domiati cheese is still made in the Damietta district today.
Medieval Egyptian cheese was mostly made from buffalo or cow's milk. Cheesemakers used less goat and sheep milk than in other countries of the region.
Fried cheese was a common food in Egypt in the Middle Ages. Street vendors cooked it in oil and served it with bread. Egyptians also imported cheese from Sicily, Crete and Syria at that time.
Between 1984 and 2007, cheese production in Egypt rose from about 270,000 tonnes to over 400,000 tonnes.
Main types of Egyptian cheese
Domiati, Egypt's soft white cheese
Domiati is the most common cheese in Egypt. It is a soft, white, salty cheese from Damietta, made mainly from water buffalo milk, sometimes mixed with cow's or goat's milk.
Cheesemakers add salt to the milk before the rennet. This sets Domiati apart from feta and gives it a sharp, pickled taste.
Roumy, Egypt's main hard cheese
Roumy, also spelled rumi, is the main hard cheese of Egypt. Its name comes from the Arabic word for "Roman".
Roumy is made from cow's or buffalo milk with no starter culture. After three to four months of aging, it has an open texture, a pungent smell and a sharp flavor that gets saltier with age.
Ackawi and kanafeh from the Levant
Ackawi is a soft white brined cheese from the Levant, the region east of the Mediterranean Sea that includes Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Palestine. It is usually made from pasteurized cow's milk and cured for two days in salted whey brine.
Kanafeh, also from the Levant, is a dessert of spun pastry layered with soft white cheese and soaked in sugar syrup.
How is cheese eaten in Egypt?
Cheese is often served with breakfast in Egypt, along with bread, jams and olives. People may eat soft white cheeses (known together as gebna bēḍa) and gebna rūmi in ēish fīno, a small baguette, or with ēish baladi, a flatbread.
White cheeses and mish are also served at the start of a meal with several courses, alongside appetizers and bread.
Fiteer is a flaky filo pastry, and its filling or topping may include white cheese and peppers. Sambusak, another flaky pastry, may be stuffed with cheese, meat or spinach.
Cheese also goes into desserts. Qatayef are pancakes stuffed with nuts or soft cheese, deep fried and covered in syrup, and they are commonly served during Ramadan.
Egyptian Cheeses
Egyptian Cheese Questions
What is the most common cheese in Egypt?
Domiati is the most common cheese in Egypt. It is a soft, white, salty cheese from Damietta, made mainly from water buffalo milk, sometimes with cow's or goat's milk. Today it contains less buffalo milk than in the past. Makers replace some cow's milk fat with vegetable oil to cut costs and keep the white color.
What is Egyptian mish cheese?
Mish is a fermented cheese that many rural Egyptians still make themselves. A 17th-century writer described it as a cheese kept so long that it became extremely sharp and salty. Egyptian peasants ate it with bread, leeks or green onions as a staple food. The mish eaten in the countryside today seems to be essentially the same cheese.
What cheese did ancient Egyptians eat?
Cheese found in a First Dynasty tomb at Saqqara was probably a fresh cheese, set with acid or with acid and heat. It was stored in two alabaster jars placed in the tomb about 3,000 BC. Ancient Egyptians also made cottage cheese by churning milk in a goatskin and straining what was left through a reed mat.
Is roumy cheese Egyptian?
Yes. Roumy, also spelled rumi, is the main hard cheese of Egypt, made from cow's or buffalo milk. Its name comes from the Arabic word for "Roman". It is made without a starter culture and aged three to four months, which gives it an open texture, a pungent smell and a sharp, salty flavor.