Cheese Factory

Cheese Factory

The Foundation’s Cheese Factory in Metsovo has been in operation since 1958. Evangelos Averoff’s vision extended beyond creating employment for the people of Metsovo or generating income for the Foundation. He intended it to serve – as it continues to do today – as a practical cheesemaking school, where young people from Metsovo could train, gain hands-on experience and, in time, establish cheesemaking businesses of their own – as many of them went on to do.

In the early years, Evangelos Averoff arranged for young people from local livestock-farming families to apprentice at artisan dairies in Italy. These apprenticeships contributed to the development of some of Metsovo’s most distinctive cheeses, including the smoked Metsovone, as well as Metsovella and Rezzana.

Rezzana Tossizza is the most recent addition to the Foundation’s range of commercially available cheeses, though it has been produced at the Cheese Factory since 1959. Made exclusively with cow’s milk from specially bred animals raised in the Metsovo area, it is produced in numbered 35 kg wheels and matured for 30 months. Rezzana Tossizza will also be available in smaller 300–500 g packs and in grated form.

Our cheeses

Cheeses

  • REZZANA TOSSIZZA – Made from 100% cow’s milk; matured for at least 30 months and produced year-round.
  • METSOVONE – Produced mainly from cow’s milk, with up to 20% goat’s and sheep’s milk.
  • GRAVIERA – Produced from pasteurised goat’s and sheep’s milk from animals that graze freely at altitudes above 1,200 m, mainly during the summer months.
  • METSOVELLA – Produced mainly from sheep’s milk, with the addition of cow’s and goat’s milk.
  • METSOVISIO “GIDISIO” (Peppered goat cheese) – Produced from pasteurised goat’s and sheep’s milk; contains peppercorns.
  • METSOVO “GELADISIO” (Cow’s-milk cheese) – Produced from 100% cow’s milk.
  • FRESH BUTTER – Produced from 100% cow’s milk.

Guided tours of the production facilities are not available for hygiene and food safety reasons. Visitors to Metsovo are welcome to pick up a complimentary copy of our booklet, Milk, Cheese and Our Own Cheeses.