Zakynthos Dairy - Panagiotis Bastas

At Saint Leo, Zakynthos, The Panagiotis Bastas, a third generation cheesemaker, produces an overlooked but unique cheese, the Zakynthian oil cheese.

Panagiotis Bastas is very proud to continue the family tradition, since his father and grandfather were experienced cattle breeders and cheese makers. He does not miss every opportunity to show a commemorative photo where his grandfather, his father, himself and his two little boys Antonis and Angelos, four generations of cheesemakers, are together.

But he himself took the big step and in 2008 set up Zakynthos Dairy, the most complete, modern and vertical cheese factory of Zakynthos, on the grounds of the family home, in the center of a rich pine grove. Together with his wife Roula – who came for a day's visit from the Peloponnese and stayed on the island thanks to Panagiotis – they work hard, especially during the production seasons (from Easter onwards), from receiving the milk to making the cheese, monitoring the ripening, standardization and disposal of the cheese.

The cheeses produced by the Basta cheese factory are 40% oil cheese, 30% oil graviera, 20% graviera, 10% prenza, and small amounts of white brine cheese (feta). Of this, 60% is consumed in Zakynthos, from hotels, restaurants and supermarkets, and the remaining 40% in Athens, in elite food stores such as Alexandris, Arabian, Miran, Karatzas.

The flagship of the cheese factory is the oil cheese, the "local", as the Zakynthians call it, consisting of 80% sheep's milk and 20% goat's milk. A very interesting and special cheese is the prenza, a goat's, fresh, creamy cheese similar to galotiri and served mainly as an appetizer or in oregano (Zakynthian frigania-fryssa with tomato, oregano).

In the spring, at the peak of production, the cheese factory processes a ton of milk per day, an amount that produces around 200 kg of cheese. The oil cake, which is initially formed in the shape of a rectangular parallelogram and then matures in Zakynthos olive oil for five months and as long as it remains in the oil, it darkens, acquires holes and its flavor begins to strengthen and becomes more and more peppery. "The longer it remains in the oil, the more pungent its taste becomes, and many maracles soak it for more than a year, then it becomes a mezes of gunpowder».

Basta's cheese factory, just outside the village of Agios Leon, in a lush olive grove, in recent years has become visitable. And it is worth visiting, because on the one hand it is housed in a beautiful building, surrounded by nature, but mainly to experience its hospitality Mrs. Giotas, of Panagiotis' mother, a kind and friendly lady who does the tour and the tastings.

In the summer, the cheese factory always has visitors who learned about it from the rave comments on social media. Mrs. Iota does not understand all this very well, she just knows how to extend her arms every day and welcome her visitors with an open heart.