Cyclades are the heart of the Aegean Sea — a cluster of small and larger islands, inhabited or uninhabited, along with countless islets. Their defining features are the sun and abundant light, the boundless sea, and ever-present stone. The wind is cool and invigorating, and the soil is barren and scarce, held together by countless dry-stone walls. Thus, terraced landscapes and rare flatlands are found throughout.
Even though these are common features of the Cycladic islands, each retains its autonomy, character, and unique identity, along with its own production and traditional processing of goods — aimed at “having provisions for the winter” and “preserving food out of season,” as is customary worldwide.On all Cycladic islands, goats and sheep are raised freely, and on some larger islands, there are also cattle and calves. The nutrient-rich milk has led to the creation of numerous types of cheese, which are more or less similar from one island to another. Cheeses, yogurts, and butters — true culinary treasures — have become a signature of each island and of the Cyclades in general.
In recent decades, this accumulated wealth of knowledge, practices, and skills in Cycladic cheese-making has been identified and further developed with the support of science and technology. All the cheeses that have enriched our gastronomic heritage — produced by Cycladic women at home for generations — are now made in modern facilities that meet hygiene and food safety standards. These cheeses have become synonymous with their islands of origin and serve as proud ambassadors:
Cow’s milk graviera from Tinos, Naxos, Paros, Syros, and Mykonos
Hard cheeses such as arseniko from Naxos, sklirotyri from Tinos, manoura from Sifnos, ladotyri or krasotyri (names referring to the aging and preservation methods)
PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) cheeses like San Michali from Syros and kopanisti or kafteri of the Cyclades (a signature Cycladic cheese)
Soft cheeses such as petroto, petroma, petroti, volaki, balaki, tyraki, gronthotyri, etc.
Completely fresh cheeses like malathouni, niari, xinotyro, myzithra, and whey cheeses like fresh myzithra and anthotyro
Due to their geographical makeup, the Cyclades form a unique cultural bastion — both insular and open to external influences. As such, they have developed, in cheese-making as in architecture, music, and agriculture, distinctive practices and products that both adapt to and make use of the environmental resources available. Despite the impact of tourism in recent decades, it is noteworthy that families who were once engaged in agriculture and are now involved in tourism continue to uphold the family tradition of livestock farming and cheese-making. This is true even on prominent tourist islands such as Mykonos, where they proudly offer their homemade cheeses at the breakfast buffets of the hotels and businesses they operate.
