Anari
Anari is a fresh, mild whey cheese from Cyprus, made mostly from the whey left over from halloumi or kefalotyri. Soft and chalk-white when young, it is eaten with carob syrup or honey, or salted and dried into a hard cheese for grating.
Key Facts
| Country of Origin | Cyprus |
| Specific Origin | Cyprus |
| Milk Type | Goat's or sheep's milk |
| Milk Treatment | Gradually heated to 149–158°F, then to 194°F |
| Fat Content | 8% |
| Moisture Content | High moisture content in fresh Anari |
| Rind | Natural |
| Texture | Soft |
| Flavor | Very mild nutty flavor |
| Aroma | Highly perishable, nutty |
| Colors | White |
| Forms | Sold in vacuum packs, can be dried and grated |
| Age | Fresh (2-3 days shelf life), Salted (microbiologically safe for up to 6 months) |
| Alternative Spellings | anari |
| Also Known As | nor, analati anari |
What is Anari Cheese?
Anari is a whey cheese from Cyprus. It stayed in the shadow of halloumi for a long time, then picked up attention after a wave of publicity. One of the island's main industrial producers took a silver medal for anari at the 2005 World Cheese Awards in the UK.
The whey comes from making harder cheeses, usually halloumi or kefalotyri. It is heated slowly in a large cooking bowl to 65 C (149 F), and a little goat or sheep milk, 5 to 10 percent, can go in at that point to improve the finished cheese. The whey is then brought to the boil with constant mixing. Between 80 and 85 C (176 to 185 F) small crumbly curds rise to the surface and are skimmed off with a slotted spoon or a colander, drained further, and cut into cubes of about 10 cm. Apart from draining, the whole thing takes about an hour.
Plain anari is chalk white and very soft, close to mizithra, cottage cheese and ricotta. Salted and dried versions go a different way. The drying used to happen in the sun; now it is gentle heat, and with further maturing the cheese turns extremely hard.
Fresh anari spoils fast, so it gets eaten within days. Most people in Cyprus have it at breakfast with carob syrup or honey. It fills bourekia, the traditional pastries made in savoury and sweet versions, and cheesecakes, which are much the same but wrapped in filo. Dry anari is too hard to slice, so it is grated over pasta or stirred into sauces to thicken them, and it goes into flaounes, the pastry baked for Orthodox Easter.
How Does Anari Cheese Compare?
The most relevant cheeses to compare Anari against.
