Metsovone

Metsovone comes from Metsovo, a mountain town in Epirus, and it is one of very few smoked cheeses in the Greek repertoire. The curd is heated and stretched, shaped into a pear or a cylinder, tied with string, matured for months and then smoked, which gives the cheese its dark rind and the smell that sets it apart from everything else on a Greek cheese counter.

It is a comparatively modern cheese, developed in the town in the middle of the twentieth century with Italian technical help, which is why it looks and behaves so much like a smoked provolone. It is made mainly from cow's milk, with sheep or goat milk making up a smaller share, and it holds Protected Designation of Origin status tied to the Metsovo area.

Its main use in the kitchen is saganaki: cut into thick slices and fried or grilled until the outside colours and the inside softens, with the smoke doing most of the work. It grates well over baked dishes too, though it dominates whatever it goes into, so it is used in smaller quantities than kefalotyri or graviera would be.