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Diaseli Traditional Cheesery – Ios
Today’s Meet Our Producers star is a traditional cheesery from the island of Ios, which as you can see in its logo is up and running since 1922!
Dimitris Haros, today’s owner and the descendant of this very long line of cheesemakers, took the knowledge and tradition of his family, which have been passed from father to son for over a century and 12 years ago modernized the traditional cheesery to what it is today.
As the people of Diaseli say, it all starts with the milk, and theirs comes from 3 specific neighboring farmers who herd goats and meet the company’s criteria. This means that the animals roam free on the dry hills of the island and consume its local flora – wild thyme, oregano, rosemary and many other herbs, whose aromas and taste can be found in their milk. The cheesery then takes this milk fresh and immediately starts the procedure of turning it into cheese, as in Diaseli they only work with daily fresh milk in order to preserve all of its taste and nutrients.
Diaseli only produces traditional cheeses from Ios, following the recipes of the Haros family. Among them is Skotyri cheese, an aged Myzithra which is fermented together with wild herbs and little pieces of Graviera cheese, resulting into a soft spicy cheese with a savory aroma. The cheesery also produces Graviera and Kefalotyri cheese, which are hard salty kinds of cheese and Xino (Sour), which is a local Io’s creamy cheese. Diaseli also produces Kefalotyri in brine, a recipe coming from the need to preserve the cheese in the old days, while there is also Oinosperitis an Ios’ traditional cheese which has been revived by Diaseli and basically is a Graviera cheese which is submerged in Vin Santo’s wine lees (a sweet white wine) for 3 months to mature.
The people of Diaseli want to produce cheese the right way, with goat milk from local producers of Ios, even if that means they cannot produce great volumes!
We are really happy to have such devoted producers in our network!
