The marinated cheese that went quietly from the hidden gemstone to the cult favorite

I thought I had stumbled into a hidden jewel in a cheese business when I bought a glass of Meredith “Feta” for the first time. That was about eight or nine years when I lived and cooked professionally in Beacon, New York. Somehow this cheese had found its way to the shelves of grocery stores for specialties. In the glass there were large pillow blocks of goat and sheep milk cheese – more like marshmallows than decent cubes – in golden olive oil with herbs, garlic and peppercorns. The cheese was lush and lively, the oil was too good so as not to drizzle over everything. I fell in love immediately.

For a while I thought I had uncovered a secret until friends and employees kept asking me: “Did you try this cheese? Who in the glass?” Apparently my hidden jewel was not so hidden. At some point people began to simply call it “Australian feta” – a strange, unknown label that only deepened the attraction.

I even decided to put Merediths marinated cheese on a menu when I worked in restaurant kitchens in the Hudson Valley – broke over flatbread with caramelized fennel, candied fennel and a splash from buckwheat honey. Admittedly, it was a bit lazy; Delicious cheese on warm bread would always be a hit. But the answer confirmed what I had seen everywhere: the guests couldn’t get enough of it. Reddit threads Only drove home – founding posts over the cheese, with users describe how they eat it and why they love it. Reddit user Ciaohow even explained: “It is the most delicious thing I ate all year round.” Until then it was clear that almost everyone had taken in.

Over the years I have also started discovering these glasses in larger grocery stores – when foods, foodtown, corner markets in New York City. A cheese once hidden in special shops was suddenly next to her everyday mozzarella.

What about Meredith “Feta” that has made me sacred all the years – and why did this cozy cheese inspire such dedication in others?

What is Meredith “feta” and how does it differ from Greek feta?

The most important thing first: Meredith “Feta” is technically not feta. In 2002, the European Union Feta granted a protected name of origin status (PDO), which means that only cheese can use the name under certain conditions. Meredith Dairy – an Australian peasant reader Creamery about 50 miles west of Melbourne – had renamed and demolished “Feta” from his label, and today the glasses are officially referred to as marinated Meredith milk sheep and goat cheese. Nevertheless, everyone I know (and most cheese counters) continues to call Meredith Feta, as we siren casually call Bulgarian feta.

The traditional Greek feta is either made of sheep’s milk or a mixture of sheep and goat milk, with goat milk limited 30 percent. It is always preserved in Salzlake. The brine not only essentially salts the cheese, but also makes it possible to continue to age what sharpens the cones and deepens the radio. The result is creamy and yet crumbly, with a salty, funky tang.

Meredith’s version is different. At the beginning it consists of a mixture of goat and sheep’s milk. The sheep’s milk is estimated in Australia for their wealth: it is of course higher in fat and protein than the milk of cow or goats, with about 5.4 grams of protein per 100 grams, compared to 3.2 grams in cow’s milk and 3.1 grams in goat milk. This additional wealth leads to a creamier texture and a round, gentler taste – softer than goat milk and more tasteful than cow. Goat milk, on the other hand, brings sharper, Barnyard notes, the type of radio that gives the cheese dimension and keeps it purely creamy from reading. Together, the two Merediths Signature balance create: full-bodied out of the sheep’s milk, with an unmistakable edge of the goats.

The Australian cheese also skipped the brine as a whole. Instead, the blocks are packed in olive oil, which are infused with garlic, herbs and peppercorns, causing the cheese to give the cheese a creamier, plush and paintable texture. As someone who usually wins more funky cheese, I am surprised how much I like Meredith’s creamier, more rounded profile. It’s lush, violent and herb. And as soon as the cheese has disappeared, this oil serves as a taste – perfectly for the drizzle strip of salads, roasted vegetables or even eggs.

The story behind Meredith Dairy and the famous marinated “feta”

Meredith Dairy began in 1991 when Sandy and Julie Cameron – an veterinary doctor, a nurse in the intensive care unit – to rethink her agriculture in rural Australia. At that time they opened sheep for wool, but when the wool prices collapsed, they milk themselves to milk, and cheeseemaking seemed to be promising. Their first sheep only gave them 200 milliliters of milk, a tiny start that they were slowly installed. Today after the Companies Meredith is his own dairy farm in Australia.

The range of the company extends beyond Australia. Meredith began to sell cheese in the USA in 2008, first under the label 34 degrees, before it turned over to her own name, as can be seen from December 2021 Article By Elisa Shoenberger in the Cheese Professor. Today, your marinated cheese appears everywhere from special shops to Costco shops, with US sales accounting for about 10% of your business at the time of the publication of Elisa’s article -and it is still growing.

Serve and cook ideas for Meredith “Feta”

Meredith “Feta” does not broke up like traditional Greek feta, but that’s part of his charm. Creamy and radiated, with a refusal and yet balanced taste and work effortlessly into dishes in which you want a hearty wealth without the enforcement -free salty saltness of cheese. Here are some of my preferred ways to use it:

• Spoon over A Tomato-cucumber salad. Instead of crumbling, add small pieces directly above. Your creamy texture plays well against the crispness of the vegetables.
• Spread to toast. A Meredith strike with tomato slices and smoked salmon ensures an immediate upgrade of breakfast or light lunch.
• Transform it into a pasta sauce. Whisk the cheese with a little infused oil, pasta hot water and lemon peel, then fold into blasade cherry tomatoes and caramelized garlic slices – the mixture melts into a hearty, bright sauce that clings to the pasta.
• Great Flatbread. Spread them as a base layer, then end with roasted maita mushrooms and butternut pumpkin for something earth, hearty and rich.
• Couple with Pita And Za’afa. Shovel it with cucumbers, warm pita and a pinch of za’atar for a simple snack in the mezze style.

Put in a omelet. The creamy texture melts into the eggs and adds a salty kick. It is particularly well crowned with a pinch of finely chopped herbs.

Take away

It may not be a Greek feta, but Meredith Dairy’s marinated sheep and goat cheese deserve to be an obligation to be creamy, lively and versatile enough to anchor a salad, enrich a sauce or serve as a snack directly from the glass. It always impresses my dental guests when I serve it, but what is more important, it impresses me on the nights when I need an extremely delicious snack and can’t bother to cook. At first it felt like a random discovery; Now it is a staple without which I can present my fridge without.