Chaloumi is a traditional dairy product for Prastio of Avdimou. The chaloumi, as well as "anari" (white soft, creamy cheese), has a white color, contrary to most other cheeses. It is not known when it started being made in the village, the art of its manufacture being lost in the depths of time. However, today it is still one of the village's main dairy products and it still is very popular. During older times, the chaloumi and the anari, as well as yogurt, were made by the shepherds and the housewives on a domestic basis. Today, few are the ones that still make these products in the villages although they are much sought after and considered genuine; by now they are known as village produce and have quite a high price. Today you can buy the traditional chaloumi for £ 6.00 per Kilo. On the other hand, in the cities where its production has been industrialized, it can be found at a lower price, though it certainly will not be the original, traditional chaloumi.

Let us now see how the traditional cheese (chaloumi) is manufactured in Prastio Avdimou:

The livestock's milk is heated on a fire and after some special thickening substance -the so called "pithkia" (cheese-rennet) that in older times was extracted from a very young lamb (the stomach of a lamb or pig, which was slaughtered during Christmas) -is added, it is left to cool down. Soon the milk thickens. Then it is cut to pieces and placed upon a "talarin" (a kind of small hamper made of woven rush, shanks of hydrophilic plants). It is pressed so as to be drained and the liquid that comes out, the so-called "noros" (whey), is gathered.

The "noros' is heated again while more milk is added, usually in a ratio of one to ten. The "noros" will set once again and thus it becomes "anari", which will either remain unsalted or have salt added to it and be stored after it dries out. In order to have anari, it is pressed once more in the "talarin" and through its draining we get some quantity of whey again, in which the chaloumi is placed so as to be stored and preserved.

In the meantime , when the chaloumi dries up after the process in the "talarin", it is thrown in the "noros" that is left after the making of anari and it is boiled on a low fire for about an hour. Characteristically, once the pieces of chaloumi are fully cooked, they come up to the surface of the whey in which they are boiling. Afterwards, every piece of chaloumi is salted. Some minced mint is also added. Then, every piece is folded in two and placed for storage in a glass vessel. The vessel, once it is full of pieces of chaloumi, is filled with whey and sealed.

However, a prolonged keeping of chaloumia (plural) in whey may result in the generation of those little, white worms called "appiitourka" (literally "sprightly ones", cheese-skippers). In that case, a little oil is added in the vessel for the protection of the chaloumi-cheese.

As for the so-called "pithkia" (a word obviously originating from the verb "pisso", meaning, "to curdle"), this was a liquid that came from the stomach of a very small lamb that was slaughtered while still in the stage of sucking milk from its mother and -certainty -before it starts eating grass. Thus, it was maternal milk mixed with the liquids of the small animal's stomach. The "pithkia" was placed on a cloth that was then tied. This sachet was then dipped in boiling milk for a while, thus helping it to set. Then, the rest of the "pithkia" was kept in the sachet to be used again later, until it run out. So, whenever a very young animal was slaughtered, they took its "pithkia" and kept it for later use, when they made chaloumi. Today this method is no longer used, since there are special powders for thickening.
The chaloumi is consumed either just as it is or cooked on coals or on the grill (in this case with lemon added to it). It is also used for the making of chaloumi-pie, while many prefer it -instead of anari -graded as a toping for spaghetti or other kinds of pasta. Small pieces of chaloumi are also cooked in the "trachana" soup (made of wheat that was boiled in milk and dried). Chaloumi is one of the main items constituting the rich, traditional Cypriot "meze" (delicacies).

As far as the traditional "anari" is concerned, they used to eat it fresh and hot -just out of the caldron and after adding sugar to it -or they made various pastries, such as the traditional "pourekia" (plural) during the days of the carnival and before the Lent. Also, they used to drain it and even today they do. That is, they kept it inside a very thin cloth, the so called "kouroukla" (a white, transparent cloth made of very thin threads), so as to allow it to "breathe" for about 40 days, hanging it out in the yard and under the sun to drain well with the intention of drying it up, keeping it in the house at night. After the 40 days, they kept it in a cool place and so they could have dry anari all year long, also using it for pasta if chaloumi was not available.

As for the yoghurt of Prastio Avdimou, it has a very good reputation throughout Cyprus. From Prastio comes a very pure and authentic, very tasty yoghurt and -mainly -the traditional, sheep's yoghurt of Prastio Avdimou.

Let us examine below how yoghurt is made in Prastio Avdimou:

Out of the abundant production that exists in the village, the female makers procure for their households some milk so as to make their traditional yoghurt. They first boil the milk in large saucepans, stirring it as it boils to avoid the getting any skim. They bring it to boil and then leave it to cool down. After it cools down, for every 8 litres they add 2 spoons of "katastato" (starch) or otherwise yeast (its yoghurt from the previous day) and -stirring -they mix it well into the rest of the milk. They place the saucepan onto the fire again, heating it to the point that one's finger can tolerate the heat (about 20? C.). Afterwards, they strain it through the colander, improving its quality and making its appearance more glossy. Finally, they place it in clay jars and cover it with blankets in a warm area, mainly in the "sospito" (meaning "inner house", side-building), for about two and a half hours so as to set.
In the region there's an Organisation of Dairy Industries that provides the traditional manufacturers with milk.