Kefalotyri is a hard, salty yellow cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

 made from sheep milk

Sheep milk

Sheep's milk is the milk of domestic sheep. Though not widely drunk in any modern culture, sheep's milk is commonly used to make cultured dairy products. Well-known cheeses made from sheep milk include the Feta of Greece, Roquefort of France, Manchego from Spain, the Pecorino Romano , the Pecorino...

 and/or goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

's milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

 in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 and Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, although, a similar cheese Kefalograviera

Kefalograviera

Kefalograviera is a hard sheep milk cheese with a salty flavor and rich aroma. It is often used in a Greek dish called Saganaki, cut into triangular pieces, rolled in seasoned flour and lightly fried. It is very similar to Kefalotyri cheese and sometimes is sold as it.Kefalograviera has PDO status...

, which is made with cow's milk, or a mixture of sheep and cow is sometimes sold outside Greece and Cyprus as Kefalotyri. Depending on the mixture of milk used in the process the color can vary between yellow and white.

In taste it vaguely resembles Gruyere

Gruyère (cheese)

Gruyère is a hard yellow cheese, named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland, and originated in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne...

, except it is harder and quite saltier. A very hard cheese, kefalotyri can be consumed as is, fried

Frying

Frying is the cooking of food in oil or another fat, a technique that originated in ancient Egypt around 2500 BC. Chemically, oils and fats are the same, differing only in melting point, but the distinction is only made when needed. In commerce, many fats are called oils by custom, e.g...

 in olive oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...

 for a dish called saganaki

Saganaki

Saganaki refers to various dishes prepared in Greek cuisine and is named after the single-serving frying pan in which it is cooked....

, or added to foods such as spaghetti, meat, or cooked vegetables, and is especially suited for grating. It is also used along with feta cheese in the vast majority of recipes for Spanakopita

Spanakopita

Spanakopita or spinach pie is a Greek savory pastry in the burek family with a filling of chopped spinach, feta cheese , onions or scallions, egg, and seasoning...

, where many recipes say to substitute romano

Romano cheese

Romano cheese is an American term for a class of cheeses, some of them Italian, including Pecorino Romano, a hard, salty cheese, suitable primarily for grating, from which the name is derived....

 or parmesan if kefalotyri cannot be obtained. This is a popular and well-known cheese, establishing its roots in Greece during the Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 era. It can be found in some gourmet or specialty stores in the U.S. and other non-Greek countries. Young cheeses take two to three months to ripen. An aged kefalotyri, a year old or more, is drier with a stronger flavour, and may be eaten as a meze

Meze

Meze or mezze is a selection of small dishes served in the Mediterranean and Middle East as dinner or lunch, with or without drinks. In Levantine cuisines and in the Caucasus region, meze is served at the beginning of all large-scale meals....

 with ouzo

Ouzo

Ouzo is an anise-flavored aperitif that is widely consumed in Greece and Cyprus, and a symbol of Greek culture.-History:Traditionally, tsipouro is said to have been the pet project of a group of 14th century monks living in a monastery on holy Mount Athos. One version of it is flavored with anise...

, or grated on food.