thumb|Greek PDO Kasseri
Kasseri (Greek: κασέρι, Turkish: kaşar) is a medium-hard or hard pale yellow cheese made from pasteurised or unpasteurised sheep milk and at most 20% goat's milk. "Kasseri" is a protected designation of origin, according to which the cheese must be made in the Greek provinces of Thessaly, Macedonia, Lesbos, or Xanthi, Romania, and the Balkans, where it is known as kashkaval. The same cheese is made with cow's milk, but in that case it cannot be legally sold as "kasseri" in the EU and is instead sold under names that are particular to each producer.
Kasseri is of semi-hard to hard consistency, smooth rather than crumbly, chewy, and with a hard rind. It belongs to the pasta filata family of cheeses, which includes fresh cheeses like mozzarella and aged ones like Provolone and Caciocavallo. The explanation is that the lack of use of rennet during its invention by the Jews of Kırkkilise (modern Kırklareli, Turkey) made the cheese fit for the requirements of the Jewish law. However, rennet is in fact used in the making of kasseri therefore the above is likely a case of folk etymology. Another origin of the word points to the ancient Latin word for cheese, 'Caseus'
Kasseri is consumed in sandwiches as the main constituent in kasseropita and saganaki.
Assyrians use Kasseri cheese to make a traditional Assyrian cheese dish, called gupta tomirta ( 'buried cheese'), that is topped with cumin and sometimes other seasonings.
See also
- Assyrian cuisine
- Cuisine of Cyprus
- Greek cuisine
- Greek food products
- Kashkaval
- Turkish cuisine