Marinated Feta Spices Up an Ancient Favorite

We Sepharadim – and many other people around the world – love our feta. But few people know the long, fascinating history of feta.

The first documented references to cheese making date back to ancient Greece in 800 BCE, although how far back making it actually dates no one knows. Shepherds stored sheep and/or goat milk in animal skins. With hot weather, the milk curdled into cheese that is generally considered to have been feta. Interestingly, the technology to produce feta today is similar, minus the animal skins, of course, unless you’re one of the Greek shepherds still following the  ancient traditional methods.

There are written records of storing feta in brine starting in the 2^nd century BCE, although historians agree it was going on for centuries before that. Calling the cheese feta, meaning “slice” from the Italian word fetta, started in the 19^th century when the cheese began to be cut for packing and shipping.

As we know, feta is a staple of Greek cuisine as well as Sephardic food, from salads to dips, börekas to kuajado. Today it’s made from sheep, goat or cow’s milk or a mix. Growing up in Denver, there was always feta and kalamata olives in the refrigerator. My father bought both out of barrels from the Greek grocer downtown…the kind of store that had an age-darkened creaky wooden floor and the moment you walked in, you were overwhelmed by so many amazing smells. At home, the feta always came out any time there was a guest, whether one person or a party.

What I love about this recipe is not just how good it tastes, but also how easy it is, how many uses there are for it and that it preserves the cheese even further, up to two months in your refrigerator. Serve the feta as part of a snack or mezze. Use some to spice up one of my summer favorites, feta and watermelon, or crumble it with tuna mixed with some of the marinade. Make it into a whipped dip in your food processor by using some of the oil marinade, garlic slices to taste and just enough cream to get the airy consistency. As you use the feta and olives, the remaining oil marinade is delicious mixed with pasta, drizzled over roasted vegetables or fish or with some extra fresh lemon as a dressing for nearly any salad.

Marinated Feta Recipe

• 16 ounces feta

• About 1/4 cup green or black olives of choice, pitted if desired (optional)

• 2-3 medium or large cloves garlic, sliced thin

• 1-2 tablespoons za’atar*

• Zest from 1 large lemon or to taste (1-2 tablespoons)

• Olive oil to fill container

Pat the feta dry. With a sharp, straight-edged knife, carefully cut feta into bite-sized cubes. Don’t worry if some crumbles, you can add those to the jar as well.

If using olives, drain and pat dry.

Put about 1/3 of the feta in a glass jar or glass container that can hold all the of the pieces with about 1 inch of room at the top. (A 2-quart wide-mouthed jar works well.). On top of the feta and down the sides, add about 1/3 of each - the garlic slices, za’atar and zest. Fill in spaces with a few olives if using. Add another layer of 1/3 of each the feta pieces, garlic, za’atar and zest. Again fill in with olives. Repeat the layer once more until all the feta and other ingredients are used up.

Fill the jar or container with olive oil, covering all the feta with extra oil on top. Make sure no feta or garlic is out of the oil. Close and refrigerate for at least a day or two, longer will be even more flavorful. Keeps for up to 2 months in the refrigerator. Remove the jar from the fridge 30-60 minutes before serving so any solidified oil can liquify.

*There are many different za’atar blends with varying ingredients. Find one you like. One of my favorites is Spice + Leaf (spiceandleaf.com) that has only hyssop, sumac and sesame seeds, no salt so I can control that, especially in this dish with salty feta.