Cut the cheese into 1-cm (1/2-inch) thick slices. Place the slices in a bowl and cover with cold water. This cheese is very salty. It is better to desalinate it for a few hours in the refrigerator, as needed.
Simply patting the haloumi dry with paper towel will remove some of the saltiness, but you can also place it in a bowl of cold water to remove more of the salt, if you prefer. Just soak for 5 minutes, then pat dry with paper towel – patting dry is important to ensure the lovely golden crispy edges!
Soaking, especially as here, with some lemon juice, leaches out halloumi's preserving salt, and also softens the cheese nicely. The result is that you'll taste and smell the farmy sweetness of the milk in the finished dish.
To remove excess saltiness, soak the halloumi in cold water for 2 hrs, or overnight. Cut the halloumi into 4 long pieces and thread onto metal skewers, or wooden ones that have been soaked for 10 mins.
Add fresh milk until it covers the cheese and put the lid on. Leave for 1-2 days – the milk will draw out some of the salt from the Feta over this period.
Soak the halloumi in water for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours to remove the salty taste. I love the salty taste of halloumi, so I prefer not to soak it. However, if you find the kind you have to be too salty, the soak will help alleviate that. Allow the halloumi cheese to grill without touching it.
Halloumi is high in salt so if you've been advised to watch your salt intake it may not be the best option for you. Some supermarkets offer a 'light halloumi' which has a reduced total fat content, but the saturated fat and salt levels may still be high.
Halloumi is a particularly salty cheese because it is preserved in brine. This salt solution not only sits on the surface but penetrates into the cheese. This makes it challenging to remove all salt from halloumi. Unfortunately, the high salt levels may make it unsuitable for those on a low-sodium diet.
Many people have never tried halloumi that way. That might be because you're not sure whether it's even okay to eat uncooked. Relax, we can verify that yes, halloumi is okay to eat uncooked.
Feta is Greek brined curd white cheese made from sheep, goat, or cow's milk. Sometimes it can be a combination of two types of milk! Feta cheese is saltier than halloumi but holds its shape well when frying at high heat. Feta is crumbly and can be a good substitute for halloumi in salads.
An unopened packet of halloumi will keep in the fridge for up to a year. Once opened store in salt water in the fridge.
Squeeze some lemon juice or orange juice over your dish. The sour flavor provides a new layer of complexity to the meal and should mellow out the salt. Drizzle in a mild vinegar like all-purpose vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar to help mask the salt with acidity by distracting the taste buds.
You can add lemon juice, lime juice, or apple cider vinegar to salty food to help neutralize the saltiness. A tomato product, such as tomato sauce or tomato paste, will also work since tomatoes are acidic.
As Watkins explains, Halloumi is 'high in saturated fat (12g per 70g), which has been linked with 'bad' cholesterol levels. It also matters how you prepare the halloumi as adding lots of oil – if frying – will increase the calorie count.
Nutritionally haloumi cheese contains slightly less fat (26 per cent) than regular cheddar cheese but more than double the sodium content thanks to the brine used to preserve it. Haloumi is delicious, and as such one of the biggest issues it poses is the risk of overeating.
Since halloumi doesn't melt when it's cooked, it's absolutely perfect for pan-frying, grilling, BBQing, baking and even air frying. It's so versatile! You can make delicious appetizers, burgers, kebabs, salads and more with it.
❌It's best to ideally avoid offering super salty cheeses such as feta cheese & halloumi to under 1s too, but small amounts of most other cheese (aside from soft blue veined, unpasteurised, & mould ripened soft cheese) are fine.
The reason is its high sugar content, which forms a film of syrup against your teeth.
Waldeck says the way halloumi is made – the two-step process that cooks the milk, presses the whey out of the cheese then cooks the cheese again in the whey – is the reason so many people love it. "The second cooking compounds the cheese and gives it a higher melting point," she says. "That's the secret."
High Blood Pressure Patients Should Avoid Halloumi
The salt content of halloumi is relatively high. It contains a whopping 1250 g of sodium per 100g. Hence, it is best to avoid eating halloumi if you have high blood pressure issues. Even if you eat it, you should ensure that you do not add salt to the dish.
Swiss, brick, goat cheese, mozzarella and cream cheese have the least amount of sodium.