Cheesemaker Nikolaos Pittaras of Kourounochori, Naxos, has been immersed in milk since childhood. The year he was born, his father bought a heifer so his children could have fresh milk. “My father worked as a mule driver and lime kiln builder to raise us. He also bought some land, which he worked with my mother. Those were hard times. The heifer gave birth to calves, but my father never sold any of the females.”

Nikolaos identifies first and foremost as a livestock farmer. “My girls,” he says fondly, referring to his cows – his lifelong companions. “The first time I cried about something that didn’t have to do with me was in 1975, when our first heifer died.” His 80-year-old mother, Mrs. Andriani, still helps by bottle-feeding the calves.

Nikolaos learned traditional cheesemaking from his family. “I was 29 when I decided to start the dairy. By the time I realized what it meant to run a dairy, it was already too late. I figured that since I had made the decision, I had to commit and see where it would take me. I produced my first cheese in 2008.”

Since then, he has modernized and expanded, transforming it into a vertically integrated dairy. He introduced genetic improvements to his livestock, grew his own animal feed, invested in equipment, and embraced sustainability, proving the value of a holistic approach. Manure is used as fertilizer, and whey becomes animal feed. “The business survives entirely thanks to its waste,” Nikolaos notes – a testament to their waste management practices.

A self-taught cheesemaker, Nikolaos has a poetic way of describing his work: he creates cheeses “with the flavor of seeds sprouting and bursting in the field.” He processes around 8 tons of rich, ultra-fresh milk daily, year-round, with the help of a dedicated team of 13. “It’s not easy work. No one chooses to deal with manure day and night unless they really love animals.”

His cheeses – available in major supermarkets – are certified for animal welfare and non-GMO animal feed. He produces excellent kefalotyri, xinomyzithra, sweet myzithra, anthotyro, and a potent xinotyro that wowed the experts at Gastronomos magazine’s blind tasting. His specialty, however, is the 12-month aged Naxos Graviera (PDO): a bold, complex cheese that has become a benchmark for Greek dairies. Full-bodied and authentic, it’s a true gem of Greek cheesemaking.

“If your mouth doesn’t fill with fat that has fermented and matured with the milk, how can you call the cheese delicious?” Nikolaos points out, underscoring the richness of Naxos milk. Accepting the award, he said, “These cheeses are our culture and our passion. I understand how hard it was for Gastronomos to pick us among so many talented colleagues. This award could have gone to anyone who milks even a drop of milk and makes cheese on any Cycladic island under such adverse conditions. Tourism, which should help us survive, ends up being a major obstacle. This award is not only a culmination of our efforts but also a milestone. A source of strength that will keep us going and help us create better and tastier products.”

The 17th Quality Awards of Gastronomos were dedicated to the producers of the Cyclades. At a crucial crossroads in the history of the Cyclades, where a number of circumstances have converged to limit local engagement with the agricultural sector, the awards highlighted the exceptions – those who persist in working the land and tending to livestock, producing cheeses and traditional cured meats, cultivating edible native plant varieties, honoring Cycladic traditions and steadfastly preserving the Cycladic way of life.

This article was previously published in Greek at gastronomos.gr.