Akkawi vs Jibneh Arabieh
Akkawi
Facts
- Texture
- Semi-soft
- Type
- Brined
- Rind
- No rind
- Country
- Cyprus
Akkawi is a white brine cheese linked with Cyprus and with the wider Levant. The block is pale, smooth, and semi-soft, and it has no rind. It sits in salty whey so it will keep, which makes the first taste quite salty. A soak in fresh water pulls some of that salt out before cooking or a meal. What remains is mild, milky, and a little elastic.
Jibneh Arabieh
Facts
- Texture
- Semi-soft
- Type
- Fresh
- Rind
- No rind
- Country
- Levant
- Place
- Arabian Peninsula
Jibneh Arabieh is a mild white cheese of the Levant, and it is also widely eaten across the Arabian Peninsula. The name means Arabic cheese, and in shops it is the plain everyday white cheese rather than a spiced specialty. The paste is semi soft, with an open supple texture and no rind. Salt is present but gentle. People slice it for breakfast, tuck it into bread, and cook with it when they want a mild melt.