Xynotyri is an unpasteurized whey

Whey

Whey or Milk Serum is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is manufactured during the making of rennet types of hard cheese like cheddar or Swiss cheese...

 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....

 from Greece

Greece

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

 made from sheep's milk 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, with a hard and flaky consistency, a pungent aroma and a yogurt-like sweet and sour taste. "Xynotyri" means "sour cheese" in Greek. Traditionally the cheese is drained and cured in reed baskets or allowed to mature in bags made of animal skin. Cow milk is not utilized in the production.

Xynotyri cheese can be consumed either as fresh cheese or after being ripened with the use of naturally dominating microflora during a 3-month month maturing period. The Lactobacillus

Lactobacillus

Lactobacillus is a genus of Gram-positive facultative anaerobic or microaerophilic rod-shaped bacteria. They are a major part of the lactic acid bacteria group, named as such because most of its members convert lactose and other sugars to lactic acid. They are common and usually benign...

 strains in Xynotyri have antibacterial effects that kill Salmonella

Salmonella

Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella which grade in all directions . They are chemoorganotrophs, obtaining their energy from oxidation and reduction...

 pathogens, a finding that is of special interest for producers of health-giving cheeses according to researchers at the French Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale

Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale

Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale is a French biomedical and public health research institution.- Medical research organisation :...

(INSERM).