cheese in Cyprus is that known as Halloumi; the next in order being the
Paphos and Akanthou cheeses, and then, in imitation of the Greek
cheeses, the Agrafa, Kefalotyri and Kaskaval, all of which are of a hard
kind, while there is a small production of the Greek soft cheeses Fetta
and Telemes.
There are no statistics as to production; the export figures in recent
years as given in the official trade returns are as follows:
Year. Quantity. Value.
_Cwts._ L
1904 5,606 8,040
1905 4,705 7,245
1906 2,511 4,238
1907 2,200 4,559
1908 2,786 5,824
1909 2,367 4,927
1910 3,345 6,564
1911 3,647 6,624
1912 3,335 7,203
1913 3,699 9,268
1914 4,582 10,132
_Halloumi._--This cheese, though rather insipid, is very popular, and
forms a large part of the dietary of every household. It is easy to
make, needs no special appliances, and is almost entirely made by the
shepherds themselves. It is made either from sheep's milk only, or, in
the hills where goats are numerous, from sheep and goats' milk mixed, or
in some places from goats' milk only; especially is this so in the
mountains where sheep are not found. The two kinds of cheese, _i.e._
that made from sheep's milk and that from goats' milk, are easily
distinguished, as the former is rather soft and crumbly, while the other
is hard and separates out into flakes.
This cheese as it comes from the mould is in the form of a slab called
"kefali." This is then divided into four or more pieces.
There are two kinds of halloumi: one called "mona" (single), the other
"dipla" (double). The latter is most in demand. It differs from the
first in being finished off by being well hand-pressed, and then doubled
or folded over, salt and spearmint being sprinkled between the fold.
"Myzithra," or, as it is more commonly called, "anari," is a soft cheese
produced by boiling the whey, whereby all albuminoid substances not
previously coagulated are now coagulated and rise to the surface
together with any pieces of curd still remaining in the whey. A good
quantity of fat is also enclosed in the coagulated mass, which is placed
in rush moulds or in cloths and pressed so as to squeeze out the whey.
"Anari" thus made is specially known as "bastard," and is an excellent
soft cheese, very popular among the European residents as well as among
the native inhabitants.
A rather finer "anari" with slightly different flavour is made by adding
5 to 10 per cent. of pure milk. This added milk is known as "prosgalo."
Both kinds are dried in the sun.
From "anari" is made a kind of fat used as cooking butter, by crushing
and rubbing it between the hands in warm water. A thin paste is thus
formed from which a fat separates, which rises to the surface, and is
then collected.
_Paphos and Akanthou Cheeses._--These are prepared in much the same way
as "halloumi," but are made in smaller, barrel-shaped moulds, and are
steeped longer in the whey, which produces a rind and renders them
tougher and less liable to crack. They are well rubbed with salt. Their
characteristic flavour is doubtless due to some extent to the milk of
those districts, as explained above. Owing to their small size they
become very hard.
_Kefalotyri._--The best cheeses of this type are made with sheep's milk,
which is coagulated at its natural temperature immediately after
milking. Rennet is added so as to produce coagulation within an hour.
The cheeses are placed in moulds, pressed and salted. They are turned
and salted every day for a week; and this continues for two or three
weeks, until the cheeses cannot absorb more salt.
_Fetta._--The process for making this cheese is much the same as for
Paphos cheeses, but differs in regard to temperature. It is placed in
bags and hung up, or left in cheese cloths on the table to drain. It is
made up in 100 or 200 dram pieces, and turned and lightly salted for
three days; then placed in barrels filled with brine. This cheese ripens
in a few days. It is soft, and has a sharp, pungent flavour. It is the
first to come on the market. It is not consumed in Cyprus, but made
entirely for the Egyptian market, where it is much liked. Being soft, it
does not keep well, and should always be kept covered in brine. For
these reasons it is exported in small barrels of a gross weight of 40 to
50 okes. If care is taken in this respect, if all leaky barrels are kept
refilled and cool storage provided, it may be preserved for a year; but
these conditions are rarely fulfilled in Cyprus.
_Telemes._--This is another soft cheese, prepared in a similar manner to
"fetta," but it is cut into square blocks and placed not in barrels or
vats, but in tins which, when completely filled with cheese and brine,
are soldered down. This cheese is also made entirely for the Egyptian
market.
_Kaskaval or Kaskavalli._--This is mostly made by cheese-makers who come
over from Greece or Turkey during the cheese-making season.
The curd, after the whey is drained off, is called "phlongos," and it is
almost always bought from the shepherds, each shepherd preparing it in
his own way. It is transported in baskets, sometimes a good distance, to
the cheese factory, or "kassaria," and these drawbacks, added to lack of
cleanliness, are the cause of much cheese of inferior quality being
produced which has no keeping properties and must be quickly consumed.
Having reached a pasty condition, the cheese is placed in reed or willow
baskets and immersed in either boiling whey or clean water and stirred
until the whole mass is transformed into "kossimari"; it is then cut
into pieces weighing one or two okes, and moulded by hand into a
globular form, leaving one slight depression called the "omphalos" or
navel. If not properly stored, this cheese soon dries and becomes rancid
or tasteless.
_Agrafa Cheese._--This is made entirely from sheep's milk. Coagulation
should be completed in 25 to 30 minutes. The cheese remains 20 hours in
the press. Salting lasts from 40 to 60 days, and the cheeses ripen in
four months. If well stored, the cheese may keep for two years.
_Butter_
Butter making is carried on to only a limited extent in Cyprus, and with
two or three exceptions is in the hands of shepherds, who use a
primitive conical-shaped churn, something after the Danish pattern.
Churning consists in beating up the contents of the churn with a stick,
to the end of which is fixed a round wooden disc 6 to 10 in. in
diameter, not unlike a piston in its action. Sheep's milk is mostly used
and, with a modern churn, this will yield 9 to 12 per cent. of fresh
butter. Goats' milk gives about 5 to 6 per cent. About half the above
quantities may be obtained with the older, native churn.
In the Near East (Greece, Turkey, etc.) fresh butter is not used in
cooking, as almost all cooked food is fried and butter containing the
least water and casein cannot serve the purpose. The pure fat must
therefore be extracted. Two methods are applied. The best is that of
plunging the tins containing the fresh butter into hot water which heats
the butter and sends the fat to the surface. It is then collected and
slightly salted. This has a good flavour and keeps well.
The second method is to place the fresh butter, or the residue from the
former process, into tin pans and boil until the water is evaporated,
when the albuminoids solidify at the bottom of the pans. The fat which
is then on the surface is ladled out. This is inferior in quality, and
has a disagreeable smell imparted by the albuminoids which come in
contact with the hot pan.
_Xynogala or Yaourti_
The former is the Greek, the latter the Turkish name for this
preparation of sour milk. Unlike fresh butter, it forms, in season,
part of the diet of almost every Cypriot household. It is now made in
England and sold as "Bulgarian milk" or "yaourti." It is in the form of
clotted cream, but if placed in a bag of fine cloth and if the whey is
left to drain off, it forms a thick paste, and has an excellent creamy
flavour, and is eaten in both cases either alone or, like Devonshire
cream, with stewed fruits, etc.
_Trachanas_
This is another favourite milk preparation, being a mixture of "yaourti"
and ground wheat made into a thick paste. This is sun-dried and makes an
excellent soup.
_Kaimaki or Tsippa_
This much resembles Devonshire clotted cream. It is the natural cream
formed after boiling the milk overnight and setting it in shallow pans
to cool. If the boiled milk is poured into the pans from a height, so as
to make a foam, a better result is obtained.
V. CROPS AND OTHER PRODUCE OF THE LAND
CEREALS
The Messaoria plain is the principal corn-producing area of the island.
Wheat, barley and oats are the chief cereals grown, and they are sown
more or less throughout the whole of Cyprus, nearly up to the summit of
Troodos, to an altitude of about 4,500 ft. Indian corn has been
cultivated for ten years or so, and is becoming more general both for
green food and for seed, and rye has begun to make its appearance during
the last few years. Dari is becoming more known.
The preparation of the land for cereals is as follows: About the middle
of January, when the land is soaked with rain, the fallow field ([Greek:
neasma] or [Greek: neatos]) is broken up, and in some cases sown with a
green fallow, and in March or April it is cross ploughed ([Greek:
dibolo]). If the autumn rains are early, the field is ploughed for a
third time ([Greek: anakomma]), after which the crop is sown; but if the
rains are late, the sowing is done on fields which have been cross
ploughed only. As a rule sowing begins after the autumn rains, and may
go on until January. But if rain does not come before the end of
October, many sow before the rain; and in many places farmers sow
regularly before, _i.e._ without waiting for the autumn rains. This
sowing is called [Greek: xerobola]. Lands flooded by a river or other
running water are called [Greek: potima] (_Handbook of Cyprus_, p. 154).
The sowing is done broadcast; the drill is not used.
[Illustration: PLATE V.
Fig. 1.--Carting Corn.
Fig. 2.--Threshing Corn with Native Threshing Board.]
Often, owing to want of sufficient hands and shortness of time or other
reasons, land which has been fallowed is sown without being first
ploughed up. This is called [Greek: eis to prosopon], _i.e._ on the
surface, or face of the field. Again, a field which has had a corn crop
is sown the next autumn without ploughing; and this is locally called
"on the stubble."
It is not uncommon for the same land to be sown year after year with a
corn crop, with no rotation. This is especially the case with the deep
soils in the plains, known as "kambos," as contrasted with the shallow,
rocky soils called "trachonas."
At the time of harvest numbers of labourers, men and women, usually
arrive from Anatolia and Syria and find employment in the fields.
The threshing-floors are practically identical with those of Biblical
times. They are frequently paved with flag-stones, but as often as not
are merely levelled pieces of ground. On these the sheaves are opened
and spread out for the threshing. The threshing-board ([Greek: doukani]
or [Greek: doukanais]) is that referred to by Virgil as _tribulum_
(Georg. Bk. 1) and is merely a stout board, studded on the underside
with sharp flint stones (see Plate V, fig. 2). This is drawn round and
round over the spread-out sheaves by mules, donkeys or oxen, and affords
a pastime to old and young during the summer months. During the process
the grain is separated from the straw, and the latter is bruised and
partly shredded, and it is the rooted belief of the Cypriot farmer that
only in that condition will it be relished by and benefit the animals
which feed on it. The straw is then gradually cleared away and the grain
is winnowed by being thrown up in the wind with wooden shovels. The
grain is then heaped up and left until measured by the tithe official.
With the grain is also collected the sweepings of the threshing-floor,
and the percentage of the foreign substances mixed with the grain varies
from 5 to 15 per cent. There are a few winnowing machines and it is
hoped that they will come into more general use as soon as they can be
imported.
At Athalassa all cereal crops are reaped and threshed by machinery.
A good many reaping machines were imported by the Agricultural
Department some years ago for resale to the farmers, and there is a very
fair demand. This procedure has not been permitted for some years, and
the work fell into the hands of an English merchant who has succeeded in
placing a few machines every year. The country is ready to employ these
and other agricultural machines, but the farmers need guidance in the
choice of a machine and are reluctant to place orders through native
merchants, who may not know the best types to supply and whose profits
they fear to be exorbitant. If they could procure these through the
medium of the Agricultural Department they would be encouraged to make
considerable purchases. The loss of grain on the "aloni" alone may be
gauged by the current opinion that each pair of oxen consumes, while
threshing, one kile of grain per day. Much damage is often caused by hot
westerly winds at the time when the grain is just forming.
In the absence of any law to prevent the adulteration of cereals,
dishonest practices are very frequent. A common method of adulteration
is to mix with the grain the joints of the straw which are cut during
the process of threshing and separated when winnowing. These are often
sprayed with water in order to increase both bulk and weight. The
moisture is absorbed by the grain, which thereby swells and is made to
look bigger.
Under the Seed Corn Law of 1898 the Government make advances of seed
wheat, barley, oats and vetches to cultivators under an agreement to
repay in kind after harvest a quantity of grain equivalent to the amount
of seed so advanced, together with an addition of one-fourth of the
quantity so advanced, by way of interest.
This benefit is very generally availed of by smaller cultivators. It has
not, however, been found possible for Government to keep separately the
various kinds and qualities of tithe corn, from which these advances are
made, and farmers frequently complain that the seed, so issued
promiscuously, is unsuitable to the land, aspect, or special conditions
on individual farms. Weevilled grain also is a source of trouble, and
farmers obtaining such seed advances must be prepared to run risk of
failure from this cause.
It is a well-known fact that cultivators often sell their seed corn so
advanced them, in order to buy some other corn known to them as more
suited to their land, and they are often justified, perhaps, in so
doing.
The issues are made by District Commissioners to selected applicants who
are believed to be unable to buy seed for cash. The average annual
issues, for the last five years, have been: wheat, 38,013 kiles; barley,
31,479 kiles.
_Wheat_
In ancient times, when the population numbered about 1,100,000, the
Island was said to be self-supporting in the matter of wheat. Taking the
annual consumption of wheat per head of population at 8 bushels
(Gennadius's _Report on the Agriculture of Cyprus_, Part I, p. 8) and
after making an allowance for seed, the annual production would then
have been about 10,000,000 bushels. From British Consular Reports it
appears that in 1863 the average produce was reckoned at 640,000
bushels. The average annual production of wheat for the ten years ended
1913, as shown in Blue Book Returns, was 2,292,827 kiles. For later
years the figures are:
Year. Kiles.
1914 1,924,336
1915 1,761,501
1916 1,524,484
1917 1,782,800
1918 2,424,570
Wheat is sown at the rate of 1 kile per donum. The average yield per
donum is 6 to 10 kiles, and varies between 3 to 4 kiles on dry land in a
poor year, to 16 to 20 on the best lands in a good year. When rains are
very late and spring weather is unfavourable, a farmer often fails to
recover even the seed.
Much might be done to increase the yield by better methods of husbandry,
by the use of improved implements for cultivating and reaping, and by
the use of threshing machines. An immense quantity of grain is consumed
by birds (larks, sparrows, doves, etc.), which at times literally strip
the fields and continue their depredations on the threshing-floors.
Wheat is sown from October to December; a field which has had a winter
crop is pastured after the harvest until January; in January and
February it is broken up and cross ploughed and sown immediately after
with a spring or summer crop.
The crop is cut about May-June. It is cut with a sickle ([Greek:
drepani]), tied into sheaves, and carried on donkeys or small carts to
the threshing-floors. The sickle is larger than the European one, and is
often provided with bells ("koudounia" or "sousounaria") to frighten the
snakes, and the handles are ornamented with leather tassels.
Several varieties of wheat are grown in the Island, mostly of the hard
kinds, these being preferred by millers.
The following English varieties have been imported and tried during the
last four years: Improved Treasure, White Stand Up, and Improved Red
Fife. The two former failed, being too late in maturing; the latter is
still under trial, but it is not very attractive, being a late variety,
and it gives a smaller yield than the native kinds. The same remarks
apply to several wheats obtained from India and South Africa and which
are still under trial.
_Barley_
This crop is sown about the same time as wheat, if anything slightly
earlier; and it is ready for the sickle three or four weeks before
wheat. When the straw is short the plant is uprooted, not cut.
It is sown at the rate of 1 to 1-1/2 kiles to the donum, and may be
expected to yield from 10 to 15 kiles; but 30 kiles is not uncommon in
the plains, and even much larger yields have been recorded from time to
time.
There are three native varieties, viz. the common 4-row, the ordinary
6-row and the Paphos 6-row barley, also grown around Davlos in the
north-east of the Island. The last-named is heavier than the two former
kinds. Little success has attended the introduction by the Agricultural
Department of "Prize Prolific," "Gold Thorpe" and "Chevalier," which
have been experimentally grown for the last three years. They mature
late and have not resisted severe drought. Their yield is small compared
with native barleys, although this may improve when they are fully
acclimatised.
Barley is the staple food for all kinds of animals, pigs and poultry in
Cyprus, and it is often used for bread-making in years of wheat
shortage.
The tithe is mainly exported to England, where it has a good name for
malting purposes, especially that produced in the Paphos district. It
has failed to attain the place it deserves on the English market owing
to the high percentage of dirt, etc., it mostly contains.
A sample of Cyprus barley examined at the Imperial Institute in 1914
proved to be of good malting quality, and similar material if marketed
in commercial quantities would be readily saleable in the United Kingdom
(see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE, vol. xii. 1914, p. 552).
A sample of naked or skinless barley from Cyprus has also been reported
on by the Imperial Institute. This type of barley cannot be employed for
malting for ordinary brewing purposes, but it was considered that the
Cyprus material might be used by distillers (who only require a
partially malted barley), and in any case the sample would rank as a
good class feeding barley (_ibid._ vol. xiv, 1916, p. 159).
The average annual production of barley, as shown by the Blue Book
returns, for the ten years ended 1913 was 2,449,285 kiles. For later
years the figures are:
Year. Kiles.
1914 1,957,944
1915 1,912,316
1916 1,953,628
1917 2,508,880
1918 3,080,710
These figures should be contrasted with British consular estimated
average in the sixties of 960,000 bushels.
_Oats_
In Cyprus, oats are used on a far smaller scale than barley as food for
cattle, and they are unknown, except to a few townsfolk, as a food for
human beings.
The cultivation of this crop is restricted, partly because it ripens
late and needs late rains, and partly because it sheds its ripe grain
too quickly for the ordinary easy-going farmer, who frequently finds his
next year's crop smothered with self-sown oats. It is also commonly held
that the crop exhausts the soil.
There are two native varieties, both white. The one is grown much more
than the other, called "anoyira," which, although incomparably superior,
is little cultivated outside the Limassol district.
The seed is sown at the rate of 2 to 2-1/2 kiles to the donum, and a
yield of from 20 to 30 kiles is obtained. The average annual production
for the ten years ended 1913, as shown by Blue Book returns, was 394,695
kiles. For later years the figures are:
Year. Kiles.
1914 404,917
1915 378,724
1916 446,469
1917 306,010
1918 313,260
Besides "Black Tartar," which has been regularly grown at Athalassa for
several years, the Agricultural Department has introduced of late years
"Black Cluster," "White Cluster" and "Supreme." All these ripen late and
need late rains, and they have not given any promise of success. A black
variety imported from Greece some years ago has proved much superior to
the two native varieties, but its cultivation is still limited.
Reports on oats from Cyprus and on oat, straw and kyko oat plant (_Avena
sativa_ var. _obtusata_) are given in the BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL
INSTITUTE (vol. xv. 1917, pp. 308-10).
_Rye_
Rye has only lately been introduced by the Agricultural Department, but
already its cultivation, though very small, is extending. The dark
colour of the rye loaf creates some prejudice against it, but its value
in cases of diabetes, a common complaint in Cyprus, is greatly in its
favour.
The seed is sown and cultivated here in the same manner as wheat, but at
the same time or even earlier than barley. It is harvested by being cut
and is threshed on the threshing-floor. The straw is fed to animals, but
when threshing machines become more general the long straw will become
available for other purposes than cattle food, _e.g._ in the manufacture
of the native saddles ("stratura"), native straw trays and native straw
hats.
Rye is also grown for green food, in the same way as barley grass.
_Maize_ (_Indian Corn_)
This crop was first introduced by the Agricultural Department in 1902.
Its cultivation is governed by the water-supply. It is grown mostly for
green food, and is met with very generally throughout the Island, being
sown among the growing crops, _e.g._ louvi, sesame, cotton, etc., as a
wind-break or to afford shade. There was a good demand for the grain for
grinding during the war and the meal is found to be a useful ingredient
in the ordinary loaf. The stems and leaves provide a welcome change of
food for cattle when exhausted from threshing and during the dry season
of the year. At the Government Farm at Athalassa the stems and leaves
are made into ensilage.
_Dari or Millet_ (_Sorghum vulgare_)
This crop is little grown, and is mostly found in the Messaria and also
at Paleochori, almost exclusively in places irrigated by river floods.
The grain is used for making flour and the fresh stalks are fed to
cattle.
FRUITS
Cyprus produces a considerable variety of fruits, the chief ones
exported being raisins, pomegranates, oranges and lemons, and grapes.
There is a considerable and expanding export trade in the fruits
enumerated, as shown by Blue Book returns as under:
Year. L.
1904 29,706
1905 29,265
1906 41,716
1907 36,009
1908 35,027
1909 29,890
1910 52,267
1911 57,393
1912 59,887
1913 69,097
The pomegranate of Famagusta is famous, and the annual export of this
fruit alone during the five years ended 1913 averaged L14,682.
Among the mountain villages apples, pears, and plums are extensively
grown; the latter specially being in good demand in Egypt.