How To Make Halloumi or Helim at Home

This is a cheese from Cyprus which has been made for thousands of years in the same manner. Originally made with goat or sheep milk, it is often made with cows milk today, and has mint leaves added to the final product. Halloumi (greek) or Helim (turkish) does not melt when cooked, and is delicious fried with a little olive oil.
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[@rebeccapalmer3343]

I've been making cheese since January, as with lockdown, I've found myself with time to try different cheeses (I used to make very basic goat cheeses when we had goats a few years ago). I now have a local supplier of Organic Raw Milk, we pick up 10 litres every Friday and try another 'Gavin'. Today was Haloumi - looks great. Thank you for a great recipe!!

[@GavinWebber]

Another’Gavin’. That’s gold

[@abedzeidan6605]

I just finished following your recipe but with half the quantity as I didn't have a big enough pot. Came out delicious. My first time ever trying to make cheese and couldn't be happier with the results. Back In Lebanon we don't always fry Halloumi, we eat it as is in a large pita bread sandwich with cucumbers, mint leaves, tomatoes and maybe some olives.

[@GavinWebber]

Glad it worked for you, well done! It is a delicious cheese.

[@cristobalmartinez-yanez4473]

Halle I sándwich

[@ali75logan1]

Made my first Halloumi this morning to deliver tomorrow as Christmas presents along with homemade wine and mead! Thanks Gavin x

[@paulaoyedele2081]

I love that subtle middle eastern style music in background, reminds me of my Greek dining experiences. Relaxing.

[@aimeechiyoable]

Best commentary for a cooking video. So impressed! Cant wait to try

[@GavinWebber]

Yes, you need to turn off the heat whilst the milk is setting.

[@alistairclark6814]

This is great! Grilled halloumi with pepper oil is a fantasic appetizer I often enjoy. Your videos have inspired a new hobby for me good sir.

[@jasoncharalambides387]

Being in the US, it is so difficult to find it, unlike Nicosia where I grew up. Thank you for sharing. Now I know I can prepare some home-made halloumi for my family.

[@Myrkskog]

Awesome video. Halloumi has become my newest food obsession and watching this has certainly encouraged me to try to make it myself.

[@justbrowsing69]

Hi Gav, I have been making halloumi for a couple of months now, I tried a couple of recipes and I must say your method with specific timing works great. In South Africa you can only buy pasteurized and homogenised milk, but my curd was always slimy and really soft. I decided to start experimenting and added Calcium chloride to normalise the milk without any significant change, then I added normal powdered calcium from the chemist to boost calcium in the milk, IT WORKS 1000% BETTER..Making Halloumi like a boss ! It seems like milk processing destroys some of the essential nutrients in the milk needed to make cheese. So anyone else has the same problem with your curds being limp and soft try some calcium.

[@paulabristow948]

where are you in SA? I am South African too. I have my own goat & I know of 2 places you can buy cow's milk raw

[@chrissygierek]

How much calcium did you add, if you don't mind me asking?

[@paulabristow948]

@@chrissygierek I don't use calcium in my reciepe

[@kingmufasa8929]

I want to make Haloumi cheese, but do not know where to start. 😕 from South Africa also. I can not even find cheese baskets or rennet😕

[@EllahRah]

Not only a great video explaining the process properly. But it also made me super relaxed watching it

[@GavinWebber]

+Dani F Thanks Dani

[@rangerdoc1029]

Awesome! I'm trying this today for my very first cheesemaking attempt.

[@jdray]

Thanks for another great instructional video. As a visual learner, I've gotten more out of watching your videos than all the reading I've done on cheese making. Cheers.

[@SteveInGeorgia]

I purchases some Halloumi locally for the first time yesterday and grilled some - amazing stuff! So I'm glad that you've posted an instructional video...I'll be trying it very soon. Thanks Gavin!

[@GavinWebber]

You're welcome Steve!

[@diannemiller4754]

Making this tonight for our Christmas celebration on New Year day. Thank so much for sharing.

[@tofty21]

A great recipe. Really easy and fantastic results!!

[@marloweirvine6740]

Wonderful! Even a mistake can be amazing. On my third time making this I decided to take a half the batch of finished curd and toss them with powdered mint. Guess what? could not be compressed together at all. BUT pan fried the curds and got an amazing sort of browned mint cheese crumble to sprinkle over salads and pastas,

[@jamesbrincat2867]

yep - worked a treat. it worked first time. ive only ever made maltese cheese. learnt that last month now just tried your halloumi recipe . and it worked!!!!

[@giovannapalumbo808]

Well explained and great results thank you!

[@jc_exotica]

Как будто сказку рассказывает, заслушаешься:)

[@stavrosantoniou2080]

Fantastic Halloumi cheese recipes_ What a selection!!!!

[@user-qr2mh1fz4j]

I'm a cypriot citizen and We all Cypriot appreciate you all using our famous Halloumi for your recipies an by the way Halloumi is a Cypriot cheese not greek but Greeks use it

[@andrew1974able]

what a great video. Loved it. Thanks for sharing

[@yildizkelleher4782]

this looks great thank you I love helim ...

[@davidcobb7446]

Another great video Gavin, thank you.

[@mrndlprsnr]

going to give this a go very soon watched the video all the way through just to get an idea of exactly what it entails. very clear instructions

[@888kabe]

made it! turned out perfectly thanks Gavin!

[@GavinWebber]

+888kabe good work!

[@thebestcompaniondogforyou3367]

I got hooked on haloumi whenni was stationed in cyprus back in the 80’s! It is awesome fried in bacon fat for breakie!

[@brettmarlin438]

Thanks, that was really easy and delicious too.

[@shonitagarcia3222]

This is amazing! Great share!

[@toumasious]

Hi..It was such a pleasure to watch you making Haloumi.. very informative and understandable instructions..Thanks will have a go..Kyri & Angie, From Cyprus!!!

[@maxdondada]

Gavin your a saint. Thanks for posting.!

[@veronicalouverdis5535]

Looks incredible

[@helenibagiartakis4640]

Perfect and delicious. Every. Single. Time.

[@Wenfervil]

Thanks a lot, great tutorial and what a great voice too.

[@ithila6712]

I love how you match up the video-demo with ethnic music that reflects the origins of the cheese!

[@howdoesonelol6470]

Yeah . There is nothing more cypriot than a Sitar .

[@torpearce558]

I had not seen the folding method before. I'll have to try it.

[@mrbishi1000]

thanks gav, all you good work is much apreciated

[@GavinWebber]

Your welcome!

[@ElektroJay.]

@@GavinWebber just two questions... 1- do I kill the heat when it reaches 32*C?

[@ElektroJay.]

@@GavinWebber and 2- Is rennet expensive?

[@rbbrslmn]

Very helpful video, thank you

[@wild_mustangs_and_parrots]

He is so clean. Love it. Some people aren't aware of milky drips on the stove, the 'used' board not on the back of the sink, shake off utensils. Notice this?

[@nkyhomesteading6500]

We made this last night, What a great cheese! Thanks for all your videos! I'm going to get your book for sure.

[@GavinWebber]

Fantastic, it turned out okay?

[@nkyhomesteading6500]

It did. We used a bowl to shape them into round pieces before pressing. I'm a freak about perfect sizing... lol

[@MVS846]

I made today in Guatemala. Thanks for the tutorial. Uts great

[@MVS846]

It came so good. I made one half if your milk next weee I'll maje more. My family is enchanted!! I get great goat milk here. Thanks so much

[@mazzidumato]

That's great. I am also in Guatemala. Can you tell me what rennet did you use? Maybe a name of a brand or something? Thank you.

[@bnbatuta66]

Thanks for you, your a genius.

[@MaipuruSyrup]

"Don't throw it a whey"

[@kerry1963qld]

Fantastic tutorial thankyou

[@GavinWebber]

+Kerry Lacey Thanks Kerry.

[@buffalosims5213]

I made a batch, easy and really good, thanks

[@ortatherox]

Thanks a bunch Gavin. Super useful.

[@GavinWebber]

My pleasure

[@LondonTownFC]

Amazing...thanks very much.

[@mazenedrees5439]

ok...now am hungry .. again.. thanks for a great cool video.

[@nagwahussien2306]

It's great work thank you

[@xfirefoxy]

Halloumi is the best cheese I've ever tasted!

[@ZenaHerbert]

Well, I did make it today and it worked really well, thank you. My only puzzle was that the cheese blocks surfaced after 15 mins on the hot whey, floating like seabirds, so I fished them out. Salted, minted, left to drain. Delicious, thank you.

[@mariaandrews1124]

Excellent

[@marthaburciaga7179]

Hola Gavin, son muy interesantes y didácticos tus tutoriales, me encanta verlos y aprender, sé muy poco inglés, quisiera que tuvieran subtítulos en español, sería maravilloso, te admiro mucho, saludos

[@disturbedreaper]

After frying, drizzle with honey. It's also great straight out of the fridge, rolled up in a thin flat bread with some cucumber cut length-wise. You're welcome :)

[@mueladeldiablo]

Viva Boca

[@ChichoKidCudder]

I don't know if it was the diluting of the rennet in distilled water or the double pot set-up, but following your recipe to the dot, resulted in the best cheese I've ever made (Although to be fair, I did not do many). So THANK YOU! One question though: When using the double pot setup, I noticed that the temperature actually rose from 36C° to 41C° during the 45 min. coagulation process with the heat turned off. So when you say: "Bring the heat to 40C° over a 20 minute period", I way already at 40C° without turning on the heat. So, no idea why your pot cooled down and mine heated up. Outside temp was around 20C°. In the end it wasn't an issue, as I just stirred for about 20 minutes with no heat, which resulted in similar curds as yours. Great video! thanks!

[@susangreen649]

Hi Gavin. Greetings from South Africa. I your recipe, I have made it twice now, and it's foolproof! My cheese doesn't like to fold after boiling, it kind of breaks in the middle, but its still delicious!

[@jhayneartoflife6830]

Delicious!

[@amaniissa102]

thank you so much

[@MrBadhan95]

I love halloumi!

[@GavinWebber]

Thanks JD. Appreciate the feedback!

[@suzsiz]

YOU SHOULD DO ASMR! Your voice is so relaxing aahh

[@rangerdoc1029]

The Bob Ross of cheese making

[@mohanedsalim4405]

Good jop man easy & simple thanks 🙏 a lot

[@shaggy1571]

iv watchd a lot of your vids and love them all the only thng i cant seem to get is exactly what stages do you turn the heat off is it when you add the renet ?? then turn back on after its set ty for the vids you are awsome

[@ZenaHerbert]

Thank you for this. I've been promising myself to try making halloumi for ages. Is today the day?

[@paulbester2315]

Awesome video, thank you very much. Why do you fold them in half when finished seasoning?

[@cimensev3385]

Thank you for the great video Gavin. Im a Cypriot and a lover of Hellim cheese:) You may already know but for those who do not, I would like to add that you can make curd cheese with the remaining substance.

[@GavinWebber]

Thanks for the tip cimen

[@felixio2007]

Cimen, could you explain the process to make the curd cheese with the remaining substance? Thanks

[@tc-bladeofgrass6719]

Great video. This was my second experiment making cheese. I did a mozeralla first time, and then this halloumi second time. I followed your video to the letter, just with half the ingredients, and the cheese came out perfectly, although it did take nearly 60 minutes before the curd separated and set at the beginning, do you know why this might be, could it be the temperature mat have been low so the rennet took longer to do it's job? Just out of interest, is there a reason you don't use any citric acid?

[@lornamorgan6636]

Great video Gavin! Quick question: After you stir the rennet in and leave for 40 mins, do you turn the heat off? And also same ad you are cutting the curds, do you have the heat on while doing that?

[@truthfulkarl]

love this cheese, so hard to find it where i live

[@linaelkhechen8188]

Hello 🌸 thanks for all amazing recipes. I have a question, if the cheese doesn't float what is the problem & what to do in that case?

[@TheMan5751]

Enjoyed watching your video. Thank you Gavin. I had question which I submitted through your website

[@GavinWebber]

Make Halloumi like a Cypriot!

[@IkeMann100]

Gavin Webber I am Cypriot but you are the one teaching me how to make it :) Many thanks!

[@MrBoromir123]

Gavin many thanks for the video I have now made Halloumi successfully a number of times now using your method. However do you know how i can get the cheese more like the firm squeaky cheese you get from the shop as mine always seems a bit to delicate?

[@yousifucv]

Great video. What do you mean when you say you sanitize the sushi mats and cooling rack, how do you do that?

[@wi2808]

Hi Gavin I tried your recipe for couple times and it turned out very good. But lately the milk is not coagulated aldo im using the same rennet what do you think the problem is can you help me with that thank you

[@marcosfuenmayorboscan]

Gavin. Buenos dias. Gracias. Mientras transcurre los 45 min de cuajado la temperatura debe permanecer constante en 32 grados centigrados o se apaga la hornilla solamente.

[@nickysykes9987]

Thanks for the awesome video. Can you elaborate on the calcium chloride? Can you dilute it in the same water as the rennet? If not how much water and at what point. There is no non homogenized whole milk here. Thank you!

[@GavinWebber]

Cheers Chris. I don't think it last past the end of the week here as well. Gav

[@rowdeo8968]

I made Halloumi today. I was a bit insecure about how much salt and mint and ended up brushing a bit off. I saved one piece for dinner. I then did half whey and half filtered water with additional salt for a brine and put all the other pieces in. My Halloumi rose to the surface in about thirty minutes floating and ready. I was surprised maybe its my climate in Pennsylvania. Anyway, I used olive oil and a bit of butter fried up tomatoes mushrooms onions cut up the cheese added three eggs. My husband and I shared the meal. I found that the Halloumi offered the same texture as tofu absorbing the flavors around it as it cooked and very nice mouth feel but I never had it before so do not know if the flavor will develop as it sits in the brine in my refrig. What is it suppose to taste like. I enjoyed it so did my hubby.

[@Mohammedaagh]

Artist

[@olahansususapi]

Hello, thanks for sharing. I have tried twice according to the video. First trial was successfull, but why in the second trial when i moved halloumi from cheese cloth was sticky and peeling? How about the ideal pressure? Thanks, Greetings from Indonesia

[@marthahadjicharalambous2629]

oh nice video am Cypriot and I leave in France I want to learn ,but where the another engredients ?

[@solotralafolla]

You can do Ricotta first then use the ricotta hot whey to cook the Halloumi. So have 2 cheeses.

[@colettedekoning373]

Hi Gavin. I'm a total noob to cheesemaking. I am trying Halloumi...1st time ever I'm making cheese today. I've had the kit for over a month and bought raw milk. I've watched this video of yours about 4 times😂😂 Even though you're a fantastic tutor, I'm scared I forget something. The company where I purchased my kit from, uses 2liters of milk with a tip of a teaspoon Flora Danica culture. I heard you say that it's not necessary foe the culture. I have added it though😮 I hope it doesn't make a mess of my cheese...

[@chachadodds5860]

Being that these are beginner videos, I have yet to see or hear whether the heat remains on, under the pot during the process of mixing in the additives, & cutting of the curd. Are these recipes in your book? I plan to order that.

[@animetasatic]

There's another Cypriot cheese called anari. It's soooo delicious, my grandma used to give it to me with honey when i was younger, it was litterally heaven. I would love to see you make it!

[@margaretsofocleous8137]

It is made from the same whey after the halloumi. In Cyprus halloumi and anari are traditionally made from either sheep or goats milk .

[@PassionsInternational]

hi Gavin, your videos and channel overall is fantastic!!! I saw almost 18 minutes and wasn't sure I wanted to watch your video but I enjoyed every minute of it! now I have a question please, so this is the second time I am here to make halloumi, the first time I succeeded yay thx to you! so now my milk didn't "turn" (I don't know if in English is the right word) so I waited more, like the first time, but nothing, so then I reheated a bit and added few more rhenett ... maybe you are screaming now what the hec did she do ??? after all night rest I have now a bit of curd and the rest of the milk is like creamy ! I will try to conitue the recipe though as you explain this time but do you have any tips in case I fail again next time please ? I hope I could explain my question clearly ? thx for all your videos anyway I will try all one by one :)

[@Gareththomassecurity]

Got all the way through this and the pressed curds looked perfect but when I put it in the almost boiling whey it floated immediately and went really spongey. Any tips?

[@McDowallManor]

Nice - I haven't as yet done Halloumi yet either.

[@emanelfares839]

Hello sir I like your videos and I'm new in cheese making and I follow the hallom cheese but when I strain the curd it didn't go through the cheese clothe I used very fin one that got me to put a heavy weight on it and after 2h it got so flat that I could roll it as a jelly roll I don't now why but it tast very good and I used half a rennet pill for A gallon of full fat milk thanks

[@XaniaMore]

Hi Gavin - nice video - I like the cheese recipes that don't need culture - Thanks

[@davidreid8290]

Xania More j

[@danharrity9406]

Wonderful video! I have a question regarding the salt added in the final stage. The amount of salt appears to be very abundant, but it also appears there is no salt added during the previous steps. Does this turn out to be a particularly salty cheese or does it smooth out before being eaten? Thanks, again, a great tutorial.

[@re-de]

When we buy this cheese at a supermarket it comes really salty. So we leave it in water overnight to get rid of the saltiness. I’m not sure about the homemade version, but if does get salty, then just wash it off or leave it overnight no problem.

[@tiwulmasiso4899]

Thanks For this Video. I am Indonesian and cheese lover. I sale much of Halloumi made in Indonesia..but the problems is dont have much cheese maker here 😁

[@georgegeorgiou481]

Gavin very nice you doing well Dan

[@sevay22]

Thanks for that. In your amazing tutorial did you use cows milk? What would you say gives the best flavour out of the three.

[@GavinWebber]

Sev Arif I did use cows milk during the tutorial. I think goats milk would be a better flavour and more true to the traditional process.

[@tammylyne4017]

Hi Gavin, could you tell me where you got your stockpot please.

[@issacibraham5896]

Hi gavin thanks for the best video I loved and test wonderful God bless you

[@jambar0201]

hi again if i dont put in the heated whey to 97 just use it at it is can i melt it just heat to 40 degree

[@jodamore-romani4206]

Can you show different ways on how to store the cheese please