Kashkaval cheeses are one of the most well-known types of Pasta filata cheeses.

Pasta filata (PF) cheeses have a long tradition in most East-Mediterranean and neighboring countries. In many of them PF cheeses are highly consumed and in some are the second most popular cheese group after white brined cheeses.

This type of cheese is called "Kashkaval" in most countries of the region, with a slight difference in spelling. However, variations of that name exist, such as Kashar (Albania), Kašar (Turkey), or Kasseri (Greece).

Kasseri is a semi-hard traditional yellow cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk with very little, if any, goat's milk mixed in. Since the manufacturing technology has been adapted to suit the local conditions and practices, it presents some differences, although small, from country to country. These differences include the kind of milk used and its thermal treatment, the use of culture and its composition, the curd scalding before acidification, the way of salting the curd and final cheese, etc. The cheese is found in Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. An alternative way of making the cheese uses cow-milk.  

It is a soft textured, stringy rather than crumbly, chewy, hard-rind cheese and belongs to the pasta filata family of cheeses, like Provolone or Mozzarella. The use of fresh unpasteurized milk is necessary to obtain the correct flavor and texture, and aging of at least four months is required for the development of flavor. Aged kasseri faintly resembles Parmesan or Asiago but is not as creamy.

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