Feta Cheese: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

When I was growing up, the only cheese regularly in my family’s refrigerator was a block of processed Cheddar.  It felt like modeling clay, and it was fun to play with.  I ate it and liked it because I didn’t know what else was out there.

Occasionally my father would ask my mother to buy Swiss cheese, but I never really cared for it.  Then I spent a summer in Greece as an exchange student and discovered feta cheese.  It was very salty, but it was the perfect accompaniment to a dish of sliced ripe tomatoes.

When I came back to my Pennsylvania small town,
I asked about feta but no store sold it.  Eventually camembert and brie came into my orbit.  I had a brief fling with real Cheddar cheese.  Then at a Greek restaurant I rediscovered feta.  It is a key ingredient in Greek Salad, and it’s also used in a puff pastry/phyllo dough triangular appetizer called Tiropita. 

I like crumbled feta in my Turkey Burgers, but my favorite use for feta cheese these days is in a feta sandwich.  Actually it’s a crusty roll filled with Greek Salad, with big pieces of feta among the tomatoes, cucumber, black olives, red onions and lettuce.

In case you wondered, Greek feta is made from primarily from sheep’s milk or goat’s milk.  In the U.S. it is often made from cow’s milk.  Feta is white and crumbly and mostly sold in rectangular pieces.  Sometimes the pieces are stored in a container of salted water to keep them fresh; other times they’re sealed in plastic.  Crumbled feta is also available in small quantities.

Feta Sandwich

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