The area I live in has the highest population of Armenians in the United States and I love that. Every time I go to an Armenian grocery store, I leave happy. They’ve turned me on to the basics like lavash and dolma which are in regular rotation for me. The brunch restaurant around the corner from me has heavy Armenian influence, and their breakfast burrito with soujoukh cheese is, no lie, the best breakfast burrito I’ve ever had. But my favorite new food that I’ve gotten from my Armenian neighbors is labneh cheese. What is labneh cheese, you ask? Well, sit right down and get to reading.
What is labneh cheese?
The first time I had labneh cheese, I thought, “Nah, this ain’t cheese. It’s delicious, but it’s not cheese.” Of course, I was wrong. Labneh is classified as a cheese but it’s made from yogurt instead of straight from milk.
The resulting consistency is similar to cream cheese and it retains some of the refreshing tartness you get from the source milk. Cow’s milk is the traditional source, but there are also sheep and goat milk versions. I even saw somewhere online that some labneh is made from camel’s milk, which I would love to try just to say I did.
Armenia isn’t the only country that enjoys labneh. Many countries in the Middle East have it on their menus: Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and Turkey each have a version of labneh which often has another name. Labneh is also popular in Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus.
How is labneh cheese made?
I mentioned before that labneh cheese is made from yogurt, but how’s that happen? Milk is fermented with bacteria to get to the yogurt phase. After that, the yogurt is mixed with a dash of salt, then wrapped in a cheesecloth and allowed to strain.
The straining process can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. The cheesecloth bundle is hung over a bowl and the whey from the yogurt slowly seeps out of it. What’s left in the cheesecloth is the labneh. It’s drier than the yogurt but still easily spreadable. It’s actually quite a simple process that you can do at home, if you aren’t lucky enough to live near an Armenian or Middle Eastern grocery store.
How do you eat labneh cheese?
Labneh is an easy substitution for cream cheese, so any place you might use that you can switch it up. It fits in perfectly with a traditional mezze, snuggled right in between the tzatziki and the tabouli. Sometimes, labneh is rolled in balls, dusted with herbs, and jarred in olive oil as a means of preservation. It’s almost like those little mozzarella pearls you might fight in your local cheese section.
The flavor of labneh is so good, that I often find simplicity is the best. I like to use it as a dip with pita chips or as a spread on lavash bread. A common way for labneh to be served as a spread is with mint, za’atar, and a drizzle of olive oil. It tastes bright and refreshing; it’s a real nice change of pace from those usual cheeses you might have on your typical charcuterie spread. I highly recommend it.
How do you pronounce labneh?
The inclination might be to say LAB-NAY, but in Arabic it is more like LEB-NE, which is actually an alternative spelling of the word..
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!