Calorie and Nutrition Values for 100g of Halloumi Cheese
Calories	316
Protein	20.8
Carbohydrate	1.6
Fat	24.7
Fibre	0
Alcohol	0

Halloumi Cheese Calories and Nutrition per Serving (1 Serving=1 Serving/80g)
Calories	253
Protein	16.7
Carbohydrate	1.3
Fat	19.7
Fibre	0
Alcohol

Halloumi
Through centuries of conflict caused by successions of invaders, the shepherds of Cyprus, which has traces of civilisations dating back to the 15th century BC, continued to herd their sheep and goats in the rugged interior and to make their traditional cheeses. Halloumi is the best-known such Cypriot cheese.  Halloumi is more often made from cow's milk today.  Curd is heated in hot water, then kneaded, chopped mint added and the elastic curd rolled out and cut into blocks.  These are stored in brine, making it a salty cheese.  It is a cooking cheese, and is absolutely delicious fried.

Halloumi is a cheese that styled the tables of Cypriots for many centuries. The Halloumi cheese according to legends and available data has been produced for hundreds of years in Cyprus for domestic use and for export. Most probably the name Halloumi originated from the ancient Greek word that means “salt”.

The first references that link Halloumi with Cyprus date back to 1554 AD.  However, in the ancient days it was the job of women to make Halloumi. And they only used utensils and equipment from the village they were in and never imported anything from outside Cyprus. However, many times since there was sufficient goats and sheep for each household to produce cheese, females from each family used to make pool of milk to produce cheese and distribute it among the cheese community members they formed at that time. The Halloumi making was seasonally, and was only for household family use. Then day after day, it changed to be as income generator. Most of villager and shepherds engage everyday from 6 A.M till midday in the process of cheese production for resale. 

Now, it is produced with the help of factory dairies (though it is labour concentrated). However, in both traditional hand made and factory made the Halloumi preserves the original ingredients of sheep and goat milk. Till now there are some traditionally hand made Halloumi found in rural areas and villages in Cyprus but they are expensive and sold only through direct marketing.  Halloumi is now registered in USA under Cyprus origin as well as in Canada under the code. However, it is still pending registration in the EU because of some debate about the kind of milk used goat, sheep or cow milk.

Halloumi cheese is made out of raw sheep milk added to it some mint in most cases, while in some cases it is produced from a mixture of sheep milk and goat milk with the addition of some mint. The Halloumi cheese is stored in its natural juices with salt and water. The Halloumi has an oval shape or half a circle. It is soft to semi-hard and it is salty. Some people say it is much salty but this is Halloumi and this is one characteristic which makes it a special cheese. The traditional fine Halloumi contains no preservatives and the milk is not pasteurized. However, any change in its components, the milk origin for example, makes a change in taste. Some commercial Halloumi contains cow milk to lower costs but on the other hand it makes a lot of taste variation and loses its traditional delicious taste.

The original flavour is salty, mellow and tangy unlike most other cheeses. On the other hand it is springy in texture. The milk heated in a cauldron. And then rennet is added to the mixture for the curdling process. The curds set into soft cheese which is removed from the whey and cut. The next step in forming the Halloumi is to be pressed. After that, the Halloumi is re-cooked to form the rubbery texture. After being sprinkled with a mixture of water, salt and mint the Halloumi is then reserved in brine so no bacteria development occurs after being folded to take the shape of oval or half circle.

Even the rennet in the early days of Halloumi development in Cyprus was natural animal rennet. However, Things have changed nowadays. For example boilers now can handle up to hundreds of litter at one time. Wooden equipments are now changed into stainless steel ones. Basically, both traditional and modern ways of producing Halloumi are alike in means of steps but differs in milk mixture ratios (cows’, sheep’s, and goats’). If you want to make the Halloumi less salty, put it in water for 5-10 minutes, it becomes softer and loses some salt.

Most restaurants and pubs in Cyprus serve slices of Halloumi as tasters when you order beer. It tastes very nice since it is salty and the beer is very cold! Halloumi is also very delicious when fried. The look itself is delicious. When fried the top layer becomes gold in colour and the inside becomes soft making a very amazing taste. It can be served with slices of fresh tomato. The tomato compensates for the salty taste of the Halloumi to make a perfect unforgettable taste.
Try Halloumi slice while eating melon. Very famous in Cyprus to find people eating slices of melon with slices of Halloumi. The feel of thirst Halloumi gives you is washed out with the melons watery slices.

So what is halloumi?
Even history books have been dusted in the quest to establish just what constitutes the rubbery cheese. Dairy farmers claim that cow’s milk was used in halloumi centuries ago, citing a letter written by a merchant in the 1660s. The letter quotes the merchant as saying that Cyprus cheese was made from three types of milk: sheep, goat and cow. But the sheep and goat farmers counter that until the founding of the Republic in 1960, the halloumi produced contained no cow’s milk, only sheep and goat milk, and that even during the next two decades cow’s milk was only used for cheese making if in surplus. It wasn’t until the mid 1980s that cow milk was used for halloumi in large quantities.

In pushing their own application to the EU, cheesemakers are using another mediaeval document: a manual known as Excerpta Cypria, authored by Claude Cobham. The work, often used as a source by historians, contains a letter written by a certain Elias to his brother in Italy. In the letter, Elias describes life in Cyprus at the time. Among other things, he reports that it never snows on the island, and that women are only allowed outdoors at night under proper supervision. On halloumi, the author states: “The local cheese is a mixture of sheep’s, goat’s and cow’s milk. It cannot be preserved due to its high fat content.”

This, the cheesemakers say, is definitive proof that halloumi has traditionally contained cow’ s milk. But sheep and goat farmers are unconvinced. They cite another passage from the same letter, where the author describes Cypriots as “liars, cheats and conmen.”So either we accept that our ancestors were dishonest fellows and that also they used cow’s milk in making halloumi, or we reject both. Anyone want to tackle that?