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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to save her protection of iHeartRadio. I'm

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Speaker 1: Annie Reese.

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Speaker 2: And I'm more on Vocal Bomb and today we have

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Speaker 2: an episode for you about Halloumi also called Halim.

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Speaker 1: Yes oh, and I love hallou Meet so much, so

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Speaker 1: much I immediately went out and got them. It was like,

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Speaker 1: this is cannot stand. I don't have it very often,

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Speaker 1: but I do remember the first time I had it.

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Speaker 1: It was at Yes and I was in high school,

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Speaker 1: so okay, kind of tragic in a way. Yeah, But

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Speaker 1: it was at the festival I've mentioned before that my

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Speaker 1: small town, like what's on in October called gold Rush,

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Speaker 1: and there were these two areas where you could go

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Speaker 1: get food and there was like a smaller one that

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Speaker 1: was less frequented and I I was venturing out in

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Speaker 1: there and someone is handing out free samples. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: and cheese that was being grilled. But in a way,

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Speaker 1: I had never seen cheese grilled before, and I was like,

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Speaker 1: I need this right now. What is this? It was

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Speaker 1: so good. I remember being like kind of that shocked.

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Speaker 1: I'm actually kind of gaping right now, yeah, because I'd

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Speaker 1: never had quite that experience yet. Since then, I have

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Speaker 1: with other similar cheeses or things in that area. But

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Speaker 1: at the time, that was like a first for me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I have not had it frequently. I've definitely had

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Speaker 2: it as part of like like mese plates and stuff

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Speaker 2: like that, and like, the cravings are real on a

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Speaker 2: lot of the episodes that we do. But I am

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Speaker 2: so mad that I Am not eating this cheese right now.

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Speaker 2: Like I had to look at so many beautiful photographs

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Speaker 2: of grilled blocks of cheese and they just looked so

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Speaker 2: golden brown and milty, chewy, and.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you're gonna need to get some. I yes, I

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Speaker 1: h that's the only way I have some. I haven't.

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Speaker 1: I think I'm just gonna. I'm gonna. I'm nervous because

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Speaker 1: I've never grilled loomy, but I have been on a

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Speaker 1: big Penier kick and I'm pretty good at that. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so I'm hoping it'll like transfer perhaps, but I was

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Speaker 1: just gonna grill it and like meet kind of a

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Speaker 1: tomato a basil salad.

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Speaker 2: Oh okay, yeah, yeah that sounds lovely. Good season for tomatoes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, Oh my gosh. Was there any particular reason

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Speaker 1: this one was on your mind?

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Speaker 2: I was actually thinking about paneer because I order like

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Speaker 2: kind of a lot of Indian takeout, and panier is

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Speaker 2: usually part of that. And I started looking into the

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Speaker 2: history of paneer and it was so much, it was

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Speaker 2: so much, not that that's a bad thing, that's a

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Speaker 2: great thing, that's lovely, and it was just perhaps too

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Speaker 2: much for the week. So I was like, Okay, let

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Speaker 2: us revisit that another time. But then like my brain

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Speaker 2: was still just like just like grilled cheese, grilled cheese,

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Speaker 2: cheese on a grill, and so I landed on halloemi.

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Speaker 1: Mhmm, Well, I'm happy that you did. I'm happy that

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Speaker 1: you did. You can see our past cheese and dairy

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Speaker 1: adjacent episodes for more of kind of the basics of

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Speaker 1: this whole conversation.

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Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely we it is a thing that we are

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Speaker 2: fond of talking about.

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Speaker 1: Yes we are and fond of eating. Yes, we can

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Speaker 1: fix this for you. Lord.

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Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay.

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Speaker 1: But I guess this brings us to our question, halloomy,

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Speaker 1: what is it?

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Speaker 2: Well? H Halloumi, also yes called halim, is a type

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Speaker 2: of brind cheese typically made with a blend of goat

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Speaker 2: and sheep's milk and then pressed into firm, squeaky bouncy blocks,

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Speaker 2: so it's like salty and sort of barney funky and

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Speaker 2: toothsome chewy and creamy. It's often packaged with mint leaves,

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Speaker 2: so you get a little bit of a bittersweet herbal

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Speaker 2: minte notes in there too, And it really resists melting

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Speaker 2: when you apply heat, so you can cook it in

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Speaker 2: the way that you would cook a steak or a

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Speaker 2: slab of firm tofu or another resistant cheese like panier,

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Speaker 2: And if you saute or grill it, it'll brown and

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Speaker 2: firm up on the outside and turn soft and chewy

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Speaker 2: on the inside. So it's used in all kinds of

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Speaker 2: different ways, fresh by itself or chopped or grated into

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Speaker 2: cold salads or whatever hot dishes you want to put

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Speaker 2: cold cheese into, the answer being yes, yes, I want that,

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Speaker 2: or cooked by itself or in chunks and cold salads

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Speaker 2: or whatever hot dishes you want to put hot cheese into.

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Speaker 2: It's like a pokemon evolution of cheese curds. Pokemon not exist,

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Speaker 2: should there's other edible ones come on. It's like it's

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Speaker 2: like if taffy were cheese and you and you could

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Speaker 2: grill it. It's it's the exact antidote you need for

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Speaker 2: a hot summer day, just salty and savory and filling.

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Speaker 2: But in this kind of like light bright sort of way.

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Speaker 1: Mm hmm, it's very easy to eat a lot of pullin.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but all right, to explain how this all happens, cheat,

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Speaker 2: cheat cheese one on one, all right. Cheese is a

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Speaker 2: is a way no pun intended or pun intended after

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Speaker 2: the fact of collecting and preserving the fats and some

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Speaker 2: of the proteins and milk and making them tasty in

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Speaker 2: different ways. So to do that, you need to remove

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Speaker 2: a lot of the water content from milk, because that

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Speaker 2: water content is a preventing the stuff that you want

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Speaker 2: from clumping together, and b is inviting microbes to come

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Speaker 2: eat that stuff before you get a chance to. Microbes

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Speaker 2: need water just like us. So there are a number

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Speaker 2: of methods for this, but in the case of halluomi,

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Speaker 2: you separate out the water by adding rennet, which is

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Speaker 2: a type of enzymatic coagulant originally found in the stomachs

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Speaker 2: of young cows, goats, and sheep, where it helps them

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Speaker 2: digest milk, but nowadays is produced industrially from plants or

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Speaker 2: is farmed from like specialized bacteria or fungi. So you know, no,

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Speaker 2: you no young animals were harmed in the making of

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Speaker 2: this cheese. Yeah got it, not directly for their stomach

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Speaker 2: linings at any rate. Aces Yeah, Annie was making kind

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Speaker 2: of a face. I was like, I'm sorry about it. Okay,

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Speaker 2: So you add the rennet to your blend of probably

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Speaker 2: sheep and goat's milk, and this will cause that the

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Speaker 2: fats and fat soluble stuff to clump together and separate

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Speaker 2: out from the water and water soluble stuff. The solids

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Speaker 2: are your curds, the liquids are your way. You then

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Speaker 2: press the curds to like really squish them together and

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Speaker 2: force out as much way as possible, and at that

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Speaker 2: point you have cheese that you could eat or like,

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Speaker 2: age and or treat in a different way to come

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Speaker 2: up with different styles. But again, in the case of halumi,

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Speaker 2: you heat that block of curds in a bath of

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Speaker 2: nearly boiling filtered way. This process is called scalding. It's

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Speaker 2: what really makes the whole thing work. And then you

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Speaker 2: give the cheese a good salting and either shrink wrap

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Speaker 2: it or packet in salt water. But okay, this is

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Speaker 2: doing a couple things to change the texture of the cheese.

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Speaker 2: The scalding process. First, we've talked on the show before

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Speaker 2: about how heat affects protein molecules, because proteins are these long, twisty,

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Speaker 2: curly chains that can either relax or contract, and when

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Speaker 2: you heat them up, they tend to contract and sort

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Speaker 2: of stiffen up so that they hold that shape. That's

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Speaker 2: part of why you get a stiffer crust on the

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Speaker 2: outside of a steak when you see it, or why

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Speaker 2: eggs go from runny to firm the longer you cook them.

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Speaker 2: When you simmer that this block or wheel of cheese,

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Speaker 2: a similar thing is happening throughout the block. It's firming up. Also,

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Speaker 2: that heat and the addition of salt afterwards are going

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Speaker 2: to kill off pretty much any lactic acid bacteria that

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Speaker 2: you have floating around in there. These are generally considered

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Speaker 2: friendly bacteria that live all around us and will eat

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Speaker 2: stuff in milk or cheese and poop out these lovely

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Speaker 2: tart acids which give like yogurt it's tang and contribute

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Speaker 2: to the soft, melty, runny texture that you get from

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Speaker 2: some cheeses. Think a bree for example, that's less likely

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Speaker 2: to happen in halluomi because you've kind of sterilized it.

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Speaker 2: I mentioned that that way that goes into the bath,

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Speaker 2: into the scalding bath is filtered, by which I mean

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Speaker 2: after you drain it off of the kurds, you want

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Speaker 2: to cook it a little bit to coagulate the water

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Speaker 2: soluble proteins that are in it, and then and then

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Speaker 2: filter those out. I couldn't find a clear explanation of

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Speaker 2: why you do this, but I am guessing that they

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Speaker 2: would make the bath kind of grainy or maybe a

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Speaker 2: little bit off tasting if you left them in. I've

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Speaker 2: also read recipes where people don't do this, so I

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Speaker 2: don't know. I don't know. If you know, let me

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Speaker 2: yeah and then yeah. Hallumi can be sold fresh or

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Speaker 2: aged for about like one to four months in a

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Speaker 2: saltwater brine. It is often right either wrapped in mint

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Speaker 2: leaves or like sprinkled with dried mint when it's packaged

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Speaker 2: and at time people have incorporated cow milk into halluomi,

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Speaker 2: either out of necessity because that's what they had, or

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Speaker 2: as a sort of cheaper shortcut to goat and sheep.

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Speaker 2: That that is traditionally discouraged and by law in Cyprus,

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Speaker 2: where the cheese is from. You can only use up

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Speaker 2: to forty nine percent cow's milk and still call it

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Speaker 2: halluomi or halim. Actual scientific research has been done and

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Speaker 2: I love this, and has shown that a higher percentage

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Speaker 2: of goat milk to sheep and or cow is preferable.

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Speaker 2: I love that too. That is what the science says.

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Speaker 2: There's no denying it.

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Speaker 1: There we go.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, it just goes like really well with sweet

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Speaker 2: or tart fruits like tomato or like watermelons, strawberry citrus,

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Speaker 2: stuff like that. You can serve it just straight up

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Speaker 2: with a lemon wedge, or grilled for breakfast, or added

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Speaker 2: to soups, or stuffed into dolma or pastries, make it

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Speaker 2: into kebabs along with some other stuff. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I understand that it makes some really good like simple

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Speaker 2: warm pew of sandwich sort of thing with like a

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Speaker 2: sprinkle of fresh herbs and some olive oil.

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Speaker 1: Oh Lord, why this is?

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Speaker 2: This is how I feel? Annie, Like, this is exactly

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Speaker 2: how I feel.

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Speaker 1: At least we're sharing it together.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this struggle is ours. Also from what I understand,

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Speaker 2: hallumi or halim is is served a special occasions by

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Speaker 2: Turkish Cypriots in particular like a like pre wedding, bridal

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Speaker 2: celebrations and at circumcision ceremonies. Yeah, let us.

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Speaker 1: Know, yeah plase, Uh well, what about the nutrition.

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Speaker 2: Cheese is nutritionally dense. That's its whole purpose, that's the

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Speaker 2: whole point. Yeah. So it's got good punches of fats

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Speaker 2: and proteins. It's also a little bit high in salt.

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Speaker 2: So if you're watching out for that, watch out for that.

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Speaker 2: In general, watch your portion sizes. Eat a vegetable. I

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Speaker 2: am a little concerned.

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Speaker 1: I know I made a joke about it earlier, but

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Speaker 1: you can eat a lot of halluomine one sitting.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Hey, treats are nice. Treats are nice. I'm just I

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Speaker 1: don't know how this is going to go, is what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying. I'm planning on it lasting a couple of

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Speaker 1: days when I make it, but no, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: It could be there will be vegetables there.

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Speaker 2: Okay, that's great, thank you.

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Speaker 1: Just looking for you to sign off on this. We'll see.

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Speaker 1: Because sometimes cheese can also be surprisingly filling.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, yeah sometimes you Well, I mean, like for me,

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Speaker 2: if I'm faced with a cheeseplate I'm like, I am

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Speaker 2: going to eat all of this, and then very soon

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Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, I'm not going to eat.

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Speaker 1: All of them. This is yes, yes, that's I think

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Speaker 1: that's what's going to happen. But it is kind of

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Speaker 1: a tall so it's bulls. We do have some numbers

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Speaker 1: for you, we do, okay, So from twenty thirteen to

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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, Cypress production of hallumi more than doubled, and

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Speaker 1: an estimated forty percent of that went to the UK.

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Speaker 2: After that the most goes to Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Germany,

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Speaker 2: Turkey and Greece. However, there is an annual Hallumi festival

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Speaker 2: in Melbourne, Australia, which received a lot of refugees from

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Speaker 2: Cyprus in the nineteen seventies. The festival, as of its

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Speaker 2: first year twenty eighteen, had eight thousand to tendees. It

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Speaker 2: was supposed to be a one time thing. They were like,

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Speaker 2: I guess it's annual now activities. Activities include a cooking

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Speaker 2: demos and dance performances and hallumi eating competitions.

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Speaker 1: Wow again, listeners, if you've been let us know, Oh

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Speaker 1: yes please.

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Speaker 2: Oh yes, I need to hear all about it.

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Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, halloumi was Cypress's fifth largest export. Another source,

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Speaker 1: iPhone reported that it was Cypress's second most important export,

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Speaker 1: valued around two hundred and fifty million euros.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that on that one didn't have a dat attached.

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Speaker 2: I think it was from twenty fourteen. You know, it varies.

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Speaker 2: It's an agricultural product. You're not going to have the

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Speaker 2: same amount every year or the same market for it.

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Speaker 2: Another estimate that I read so that as of twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty one, Cypriot cheese exports as a whole were worth

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Speaker 2: something like like three hundred million euros about three hundred

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Speaker 2: and forty nine million American dollars at the time, making

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Speaker 2: it the fourth most exported product from Cyprus and and

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Speaker 2: making Cypress the eighteenth largest exporter of cheese in the world.

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Speaker 2: That would include other types of cheese, but really you're

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Speaker 2: just talking about hallumi.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's a similar number. We're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about it more in the history section. But there's a

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Speaker 1: similar number about the UK because they're huge fans and

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Speaker 1: they import a lot, as mentioned, and so there's a

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Speaker 1: frequently cited fat that they are the largest cheese importer

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Speaker 1: of the world. Because of Halluomi because of Halloomi. Wow,

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Speaker 1: all right, yeah it is ll y'all fact checked me

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Speaker 1: on this one. It is popularly.

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Speaker 2: Reported to be called white gold on Cypress because of

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Speaker 2: this economic importance. That's the kind of thing that I

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Speaker 2: can't I can't tell if it's just something that like

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Speaker 2: news cycles enjoy saying because it sounds fun, or if

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Speaker 2: that's genuinely a genuine right.

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Speaker 1: So always let us know.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but we do have quite the history for you.

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Speaker 2: We do, and we are going to get into that

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Speaker 2: as soon as we get back from a quick break

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Speaker 2: for award from our sponsors.

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Speaker 1: And we're back, thank you sponser, Yes, thank you, and

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Speaker 1: we are back with our standard cheese disclaimer. Oh yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that should be another shirt we make standard cheese disclaimer.

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Speaker 1: It was probably invented, slash, discovered by multiple people in

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Speaker 1: multiple areas, often accidentally, and refined based on available ingredients

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Speaker 1: and taste.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, big yeah, big cheese mystery. Yes. Yes, However,

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Speaker 2: cheese is similar to Halloomi were being produced around the

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Speaker 2: Eastern Mediterranean and other nearby areas going back thousands of years.

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Speaker 2: The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities recently found these big old

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Speaker 2: vessels containing big old blocks of halluomi like cheese, dating

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Speaker 2: back to like six hundred to four hundred BCE.

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Speaker 1: Ooh. Well, that being said, most historians seem to agree

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Speaker 1: that halloomi, at least in how we think of it,

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Speaker 1: I would say, is a product of Cypress, where cheesemaking

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Speaker 1: goes back to the eighth century BCE. That's according to

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Speaker 1: some sources. Again mystery history, cheese history, my goodness, oh

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Speaker 1: my god. Speaking of the basic story goes that villagers

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Speaker 1: in Cypress would gather up the raw milk from their

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Speaker 1: goats and sheep in these decent sized portions, often adding

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Speaker 1: in some mint for preservative purposes. They might not have

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Speaker 1: known quite why that worked, but they sort of knew

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Speaker 1: that worked.

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Speaker 2: That they observed that it worked, sure, mm.

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Speaker 1: Hmm, and that later became something. In addition, that was

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Speaker 1: about taste as well, not just the preservative part. But

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Speaker 1: in the early days, this cheese was typically enjoyed raw.

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Speaker 1: So that's the basic story. Some versions are more specific.

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Speaker 1: One popular one claims that as far back as the

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Speaker 1: late three hundreds to late eight hundred CE, a herder

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Speaker 1: from the region that is now Cyprus got the idea

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Speaker 1: to combine the milk from her goats and her sheep,

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Speaker 1: heat the mixture over a fire, separate out the curds

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Speaker 1: from the way, and then put down the curds, shape them,

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Speaker 1: let them cool, and then once they were cooled, they

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Speaker 1: were rejoined with the way and simmered until they were floating.

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Speaker 1: And then they were soaked in a salty brine and

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Speaker 1: padded down once again with mint.

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Speaker 2: And that is the process.

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Speaker 1: That is exactly the process.

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Speaker 2: So yep, yes, however it happened.

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Speaker 1: Most of these cheeses were made on small household scales

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Speaker 1: at the start, and like many other topics we've discussed,

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Speaker 1: it was viewed as and perhaps born from, a way

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Speaker 1: to preserve dairy, which was very important.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: On top of that, it was seen as a good

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Speaker 1: source of protein. Again not perhaps exactly in our modern terms.

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Speaker 1: I sure knew it was kind of a filling thing,

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Speaker 1: and it was prized enough that villagers came together to

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Speaker 1: pull their resources and experiment to make a better product.

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Speaker 1: Every village in the area had their own recipes, their

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Speaker 1: own techniques, their own methods. By the nineteenth century, the

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Speaker 1: making of this cheese became so vital to some families

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Speaker 1: in the region that they had family names to reflect it.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's so cool. Yes, I love that. While it

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Speaker 1: was a fairly localized cheese, it was almost immediately popular,

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Speaker 1: at least that's what the sources seemed to indicate, not

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Speaker 1: only amongst the villages that made it, but visitors to

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Speaker 1: these villages. One of the selling points of it was

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Speaker 1: that it traveled well, and that made it a favorite

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Speaker 1: for sailors, which comes up often on the show. Many

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Speaker 1: of the ingredients and processes did act as natural preservatives,

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Speaker 1: so it just made sense.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And Cyprus's location in the Mediterranean made it an

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Speaker 2: important stopover for a lot of ships.

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Speaker 1: One of the first known references to Hallumi came out

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Speaker 1: of fifteen fifty six, when a fellow named Doge leonardo'dnna

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Speaker 1: wrote about it. A fourteenth century Egyptian cookbook included a

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Speaker 1: recipe for ham cheese which very much sounds like what

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Speaker 1: we would call halluomi. In seventeen thirty eight, a writer

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Speaker 1: named Richard Pocock said that throughout the levant hallumi was

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Speaker 1: well known, and then when the British brought over cattle

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Speaker 1: to Cyprus in the twentieth century, some producers started using

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Speaker 1: cheaper and more plentiful cow's milk to make it. And

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Speaker 1: this is one of those things where I read an

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Speaker 1: article about it. You know, it was so obvious when

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Speaker 1: I read the quote, but the one of the producers

340
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Speaker 1: was like, cows are bigger, makes more milk.

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Speaker 2: Oh yep, yeah true.

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Speaker 1: And then I didn't have time to really dive into this.

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Speaker 1: I would love listeners wrote in because this sounds amazing.

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Speaker 1: Halluy fries. They were they are believed to have been

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Speaker 1: invented in Cyprus in the nineteen fifties.

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Speaker 2: Oh halloomy fries. I know, right, like Matza realistics. But

347
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Speaker 2: you don't even need them hu to have them breaded.

348
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Speaker 2: I know, but you want to well, I mean, I

349
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Speaker 2: mean you can do whatever you want. I mean, it's

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Speaker 2: true options right, hang, Okay, and then this next note

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Speaker 2: is not specifically about cheese, but it's important to like

352
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Speaker 2: the understanding of the rest of this outline. So so

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Speaker 2: in the nineteen fifties of the nineteen seventies, there was

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Speaker 2: all of this complicated politics playing out on Cyprus that

355
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,760
Speaker 2: had been building for a very long time because okay,

356
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Speaker 2: the island had been under British control since the early

357
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Speaker 2: nineteen hundreds.

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Speaker 1: I suspect.

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Speaker 2: This is why a lot goes to the UK to

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Speaker 2: this day, but a lot of Hallumi I mean. However,

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Speaker 2: in the fifties through seventies, both Greece and Turkey were

362
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Speaker 2: attempting to assume control, and they were doing that along

363
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Speaker 2: these like ethnic political historical lines, with Turkish Cypriots mostly

364
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Speaker 2: residing in the north of the island and Greek Cypriots

365
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Speaker 2: mostly residing in the south, and the two sides agreed

366
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Speaker 2: enough to declare independence from the British in nineteen sixty,

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Speaker 2: but by nineteen seventy four, the northern like third or

368
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Speaker 2: so of the island cleared itself a separate Turkish Cypriot republic. Today,

369
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Speaker 2: that political designation is only officially recognized by Turkey itself.

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Speaker 2: Cypress at large is a member of the European Union,

371
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Speaker 2: but trade is complicated because there have been embargoes and

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Speaker 2: a buffer zone between the north and south. Negotiations for

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Speaker 2: unification have stalled at various times and are ongoing.

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Speaker 1: Yes, that is important to understanding all of this. Something

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Speaker 1: else that has been ongoing. In twenty twenty one, Halloomi

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Speaker 1: was granted a protected designation of origin, which we've talked

377
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Speaker 1: about before with so many things like Champagne, basically a

378
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Speaker 1: set of rules. You can use the label only a

379
00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:49,400
Speaker 1: few Yeah.

380
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Speaker 2: Yes, it's meant to be like a like a quality

381
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Speaker 2: assurance and a marketing at the same time, exactly.

382
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Speaker 1: And this was a very hard fault. Battle of Cypress

383
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,159
Speaker 1: had recently lost a trademark in the UK that they

384
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,399
Speaker 1: had held since two thousand and two after it was

385
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,520
Speaker 1: annulled by UK company that had been producing Halloomi, and

386
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,880
Speaker 1: Cyprus officials missed important deadlines for documents. I believe there

387
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,439
Speaker 1: was an investigation by the Cypress government because such a

388
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:22,200
Speaker 1: big deal. Also, this is one of those things where

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Speaker 1: I'm like, we're not a law podcast. I'm not a

390
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:26,960
Speaker 1: legal expert, but there's a lot you can read about this. Yes,

391
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: yes there is. At the time they still held an

392
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Speaker 1: EU trademark. In two thousand and seven, an attempted by

393
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,160
Speaker 1: Cyprus to get a PDO for Hallumi was stalled by

394
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:45,880
Speaker 1: a German company trademarking the term hey them and quote

395
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 1: integral problems with milk content, which is a quote I

396
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,560
Speaker 1: know holds a lot of gravity but is also kind

397
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Speaker 1: of funny.

398
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Speaker 2: It's a little bit it's objectively kind of hilarious and yeah,

399
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,399
Speaker 2: like here is where that divide again comes into play,

400
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:08,400
Speaker 2: because Halim is the Turkish word for this cheese Halluomi

401
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,480
Speaker 2: is the Greek word, and the divide within the island

402
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,760
Speaker 2: was a deep part of the issue, Like there had

403
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,920
Speaker 2: to be a compromise to even get the EU into

404
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,800
Speaker 2: the north side of the island to run inspections that

405
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,119
Speaker 2: were related to creating this PDO. As of March of

406
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,639
Speaker 2: this year, twenty twenty three, I think that's still in

407
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:35,119
Speaker 2: the works. Also, Turkish Cypriot producers have traditionally had to

408
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:40,240
Speaker 2: export all of their supply through Turkey, so for the PDO,

409
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 2: they had to work out like whether it could be

410
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:47,120
Speaker 2: exported elsewhere directly or whether it had to go down

411
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,120
Speaker 2: to the south side of the islands and through ports

412
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 2: there due to EU regulations. And this has implications beyond

413
00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 2: tasty cheese. Like the President of the European Commission actually

414
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,920
Speaker 2: said that he hoped that the PEDIO process for hallumy

415
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 2: Halim would help motivate reunification talks. Wow, it was like

416
00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 2: a carrot that they were kind of dangling, like can

417
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,640
Speaker 2: we work this out because we all love hallumi?

418
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Speaker 1: Dang, Yeah, I mean.

419
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 2: And then also included in this was some fun science

420
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 2: so like so like, there was some research into how

421
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,919
Speaker 2: to crack down on hallumi made in less traditional ways,

422
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:36,200
Speaker 2: for example, adding dried milk products to help like and

423
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:41,320
Speaker 2: expensively stretch your yields. Yeah. This one group of researchers

424
00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:44,760
Speaker 2: in twenty ten identified a couple of molecules that form

425
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:48,760
Speaker 2: during the process of heating and drying milk products. They

426
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,680
Speaker 2: they also those molecules also do form during the process

427
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,359
Speaker 2: of making traditional hallumi because you're heating it so much, right,

428
00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 2: But they form in like a really specific ratio, So

429
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 2: you can test finished cheeses for them to see whether

430
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:08,160
Speaker 2: they had dried milk products added, because those products will

431
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 2: throw off the ratio.

432
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:11,639
Speaker 1: Oh cool.

433
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, And then more research. In twenty seventeen, Cypress and

434
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,399
Speaker 2: the EU and a whole bunch of research facilities around

435
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 2: Europe banded together to create the science partnership called agricygin Sure,

436
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,440
Speaker 2: let's call it that. Yeah, it's aimed at improving the

437
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 2: quality and the quantity of hallumi and maybe I guess

438
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 2: other agricultural products as well, but like mostly halluomi. So

439
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 2: they're researching everything from the genomics of the goats and

440
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 2: the sheep, to the crop quality and sustainability of animal

441
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:05,680
Speaker 2: feeds for those animals such as barley, to the microbial

442
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 2: and fungal qualities of the soil used to grow those crops.

443
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:14,840
Speaker 1: Wow. And it has been a point of conversation recently

444
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 1: when it comes to halluomy because there have been shortages

445
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,920
Speaker 1: and concerns about demand out shipping supply. I found a

446
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,679
Speaker 1: lot of this in a Guardian article about the UK's

447
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,359
Speaker 1: love of halluomi, and if you want to look it up,

448
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:36,160
Speaker 1: I recommend it because it was sort of questioning that

449
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 1: line of when you love something, how do you consume

450
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 1: it responsibly? Sure, if you really love halloomi, but there's

451
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 1: all these shortages and it's impacting so much other things

452
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 1: like what It was just an interesting conversation about that.

453
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think if you google the haluomi crisis you'll

454
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,760
Speaker 2: probably be able to bring it up. And yeah, again,

455
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:05,240
Speaker 2: like it is an agricultural product and when it got

456
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 2: that pdo it experienced this huge boost in popularity and

457
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 2: so it's you know, what to do about that?

458
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 1: What to do about that.

459
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 2: Also tied into all of that, I guess. In August

460
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty two, some I believe American McDonald's had

461
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 2: a limited addition a Taste of Spain and Cyprus menu

462
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 2: that included Halloomi fries. Alongside. There was also a spicy

463
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 2: Spanish burger stack with like a bun that had paprika

464
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 2: in it, and a chicken Fiesta sandwich that included charizo. Hmm.

465
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,840
Speaker 1: I mean, there's I'm feeling mixed motions about all of this,

466
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 1: I have to say, so I'm like, ooh, could try

467
00:29:52,680 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 1: also probably offensive. You know what's going on at McDonald's,

468
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: Please please let us know.

469
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 2: I guess they had a bunch of different Taste of

470
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 2: Wherever campaigns last year, Like there was another one that

471
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 2: I read was reading about that was like Taste of Italy.

472
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 2: I don't have any of the menu items from that

473
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,480
Speaker 2: one written down, and I don't remember, but anyway, Yeah.

474
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: If any of you listeners tried it, I've got to know. Yes,

475
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,959
Speaker 1: I'm legitimately yes, I've said it before on this show.

476
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: I for personal, somewhat silly reasons, I don't need at

477
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 1: McDonald's anymore, but I go into them every time I

478
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: go to a new country because I'm so.

479
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,320
Speaker 2: Curious about what the menu is going to look like, Yeah, what.

480
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:39,719
Speaker 1: The menu is going to look like? And I just

481
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 1: need to know more about what this is. I just

482
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:45,480
Speaker 1: have a lot of questions.

483
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, if you can answer them, please please let

484
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 2: us know.

485
00:30:51,680 --> 00:31:00,320
Speaker 1: We depend on your listeners. Well in the meantime, I

486
00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:02,320
Speaker 1: think that's what we have to say about Hulloumi for now.

487
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 2: It is it is. We do already have some listener

488
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 2: mail for you, though, and we are going to get

489
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:09,000
Speaker 2: into that as soon as we get back from one

490
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:20,280
Speaker 2: more quick break for words more sponsors, and we're back.

491
00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 2: Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you.

492
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:31,440
Speaker 1: We're back with snore. I don't think that's how you

493
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:38,320
Speaker 1: fry cheese, but oh I'll find out soon. Listeners, you

494
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: have a limited window to try to give me better

495
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: tips and recipes before I do this. But speaking of

496
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,320
Speaker 1: we did have a lot of you write in about soba, yes,

497
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:53,080
Speaker 1: which is amazing.

498
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:53,760
Speaker 2: Yes.

499
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,880
Speaker 1: I had also mentioned that I have some soba and

500
00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:58,800
Speaker 1: I want to know how to cook it. You have

501
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,240
Speaker 1: all answered the call, appreciate it. I haven't done it

502
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,719
Speaker 1: yet either, so mm Eric wrote yes about soba and

503
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,640
Speaker 1: other things. Are you both getting involved with thirteen Days

504
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: of Halloween? That will be freaking awesome soba. Such a

505
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:19,640
Speaker 1: versatile noodle, definitely good for being noodley good dipping sauce

506
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 1: for them. A recipe included also mixing them into a

507
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 1: noodle salad. Cold noodles, thin cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, if

508
00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 1: you can eat them, green onions shelled at a mammie.

509
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,360
Speaker 1: Dressing is soy sauce, low salt, fresh grated ginger, garlic,

510
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 1: pepper flakes, lime juice, mixed it taste, toss with veggies

511
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 1: and some toasted sesame seas. We should all be encouraged

512
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:43,840
Speaker 1: to have noodles.

513
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 2: Oh oh agree, I mean we need very little encouragement.

514
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 2: But yes, I.

515
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 1: Might need a little discourage to be honest.

516
00:32:54,360 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 2: Stop but a yes. We are both involved with Thirteen

517
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 2: Days of Halloween this year, right, which is a limited

518
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 2: horror podcast that comes out thirteen days before Halloween. Weird

519
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 2: Annie wrote one of the one of the bits of

520
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 2: stories that's in there, And I was on the on

521
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,440
Speaker 2: the like script editing side, and it's gonna be real weird,

522
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 2: gonna we're we we do some weird stuff.

523
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 1: It's gonna be really fun. It's it's interesting because this

524
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 1: process started so long before Halloween.

525
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 2: Yes, which which is great.

526
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:42,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's absolutely all. Yeah, yes, but you definitely had

527
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:46,640
Speaker 1: my back on the food aspects of this story because

528
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,720
Speaker 1: of course it has a food element. Of course it does.

529
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 1: And you knew what I was. You picked up what

530
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:54,720
Speaker 1: I was putting down, and I appreciate that.

531
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, no, any anytime, anytime. That was the

532
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,360
Speaker 2: Everyone else in the in the writer's room's kind of

533
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 2: laughing at me a little bit. They were like, of

534
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 2: course Lauren has the food opinion about this. I was like, well, a, yes,

535
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 2: like not no, but b I'm right.

536
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:15,080
Speaker 1: So who I really liked this argument. I acknowledge you

537
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:15,560
Speaker 1: you're wrong.

538
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 2: I'm correct, Like, thank you for seeing me and agreeing

539
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:24,200
Speaker 2: that therefore I am probably correct.

540
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:29,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's actually I you were. I was like, yep, indeed,

541
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:34,759
Speaker 1: I'm very I'm very excited to hear what happens. This

542
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:36,359
Speaker 1: is like kind of the fun part of that where

543
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 1: you're like, I've passed it off, yeah, and now I'm

544
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:41,560
Speaker 1: gonna get to listen to it with you listeners and

545
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,360
Speaker 1: see I mean honestly same like I mean like I

546
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,840
Speaker 1: like like my my responsibility ended at the scripting stage.

547
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:49,759
Speaker 2: I've done a little bit of voice work. So if

548
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:51,799
Speaker 2: you hear some like wacky voices in there, it might

549
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 2: be me. But but but other than that, I'm like,

550
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:56,400
Speaker 2: I have no idea what's happening.

551
00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:01,000
Speaker 1: Yes, it's gonna be fun. Yeah yeah, yes, And these

552
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,160
Speaker 1: recipes sound great, so thank you yeah for sharing them.

553
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,160
Speaker 1: I might cook this tonight. Oh heck, I don't know

554
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: I have. I've got like a choose your own adventure

555
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:09,640
Speaker 1: thing happening.

556
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 2: Yeah wow, all right, yeah, okay, all right, all right,

557
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 2: uh well if you do, if you do the soba

558
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 2: thing tonight. Luckily, Albert wrote, I listened to your Soba episode.

559
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,560
Speaker 2: Soba noodles are my favorite noodles. I wanted to mention

560
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 2: a few things. One, the dipping sauce Annie had with

561
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,560
Speaker 2: her homemade soba did include soy sauce, but was not

562
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 2: all soy sauce. That would be way, way, way too salty.

563
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 2: It's typically mentsuyu, which is made from a combination of

564
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:46,600
Speaker 2: soy sauce, midden, and dashi. However, most people would use

565
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:49,320
Speaker 2: already made concentrate that you just need water to dilute,

566
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:53,400
Speaker 2: or you can make it yourself. Here's the recipe. Two

567
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,879
Speaker 2: tablespoons mirran two tablespoons soy sauce, one hundred and fifty

568
00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:01,120
Speaker 2: millimeters of water and half a teaspoon of powdered Bring

569
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,480
Speaker 2: all to a boil and let cool. Note if you

570
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 2: Google translate, it says three fourths cup of water, but

571
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 2: that's a Japanese cup which is two hundred milliliters cool

572
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,680
Speaker 2: or just fine, that's fine anyway. Condiments for soba dipping

573
00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:17,520
Speaker 2: sauce can be anything. Typically you would find green onions,

574
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:22,960
Speaker 2: grated ginger with sabi and ground hot pepper tokardashi. The

575
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:25,400
Speaker 2: other thing for people unfamiliar with cooking soba is that

576
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:29,160
Speaker 2: you need to wash the soba noodles after cooking, otherwise

577
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,319
Speaker 2: the noodles will feel slimy. So after cooking, strain in

578
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 2: a colander and transfer the noodles to cold water, then

579
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:37,880
Speaker 2: kind of scrub the noodles together. You would do this

580
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 2: even if you planned to serve the soba noodles hot.

581
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:47,719
Speaker 1: Oh thank you. I really appreciate these tips. Yeah, I

582
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:50,879
Speaker 1: am definitely someone who skips steps like this or would

583
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:54,160
Speaker 1: not know this about the Japanese cup of water for instance,

584
00:36:54,760 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 1: so very much appreciated. Also, I did, thanks to your message,

585
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:07,000
Speaker 1: buy all the stuff to make this sauce. So you

586
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:09,439
Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen. I need more noodles in my life.

587
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,680
Speaker 1: You're right, because I'm gonna have to get more soba

588
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:13,160
Speaker 1: so I can try all these different things.

589
00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 2: Oh heck, oh, what a problem to happen.

590
00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:19,840
Speaker 1: What a terrible problem I have? Now, Well, I'm so excited.

591
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 1: Oh so it's really appreciated. I just want to make

592
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 1: that clear.

593
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, genuinely, yes, yes, all the time.

594
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:33,239
Speaker 1: Yes, well, I have so many choices lay before me,

595
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 1: but they're happy choices to make, and I'm very appreciative, delicious,

596
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 1: lovely choices. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I know. I

597
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 1: did it again.

598
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,560
Speaker 2: It's fine, it's fine. It doesn't it doesn't sound weird,

599
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:47,400
Speaker 2: It's okay.

600
00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:51,600
Speaker 1: I'm being I feel like I'm being consumed by Ian

601
00:37:51,680 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 1: Malcolm somehow, and like the outer dimensions happening, not Jeff Goldblue,

602
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 1: Ian Malcolm. Yeah, chaos, chaos. If you don't know what

603
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,600
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, then go listen to our recent short

604
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:15,919
Speaker 1: stuff whatever we're calling it now about space Champagne. Anyway,

605
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,239
Speaker 1: thanks to both of those listeners for writing in. If

606
00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:21,240
Speaker 1: you'd like to write to us, you can our emails

607
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:22,720
Speaker 1: Hello at savorpod dot com.

608
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:24,920
Speaker 2: Oh, we're also on social media. You can find us

609
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:27,840
Speaker 2: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at saver pod and we

610
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 2: do hope to hear from you. Saver is production of

611
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio four more podcasts my Heart Radio. You can visit

612
00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:36,680
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

613
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,600
Speaker 2: your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers

614
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:42,360
Speaker 2: Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,

615
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:44,160
Speaker 2: and we hope that lots more good things are coming

616
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:52,240
Speaker 2: your way