Akkawi
What it is
Akkawi is a soft-to-semi-soft, white, mild brined cheese from the Levant, named for the city of Akka (Acre). Smooth and milky, it is heavily salted in brine for keeping and must usually be soaked to remove salt before use — especially when destined for sweets.
How it's made
Cow's milk (sometimes with goat or sheep) is set with rennet, the curds drained and pressed into a smooth, dense, white cheese, then stored in salt brine. The brine preserves it but makes the cheese very salty; before eating fresh or baking into pastries, cooks soak it in water, changing the water repeatedly, to draw out the salt. Once desalted, it softens and becomes mildly stretchy when heated.
Flavor profile
Mild and milky once desalted, with a clean, slightly springy, smooth texture; intensely salty straight from the brine. It is a gentle, background cheese rather than an assertive one.
Culinary uses
A breakfast and sandwich cheese (in soaked, desalted form), and — most famously — a melting cheese for knafeh, where desalted akkawi (often blended with nabulsi or a sweeter cheese) forms the stretchy molten layer beneath the crisp semolina or shredded-pastry top. It also appears in savory pastries and is eaten with bread and olives.
Regional variations
Made across the Levant — Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan — with salt level and texture varying by producer. Some versions are softer and fresher; others denser. For knafeh, makers often blend akkawi with nabulsi or with fresh unsalted cheese to balance salt and stretch.
Cultural & historical context
As a brine-preserved cheese it solved the keeping problem in a hot region, and it became a workhorse table and pastry cheese across the Levant. Why substitution fails: mozzarella melts but lacks akkawi's milky-salty character and the right chew for knafeh; using it un-soaked makes any dish punishingly salty. The soak-to-desalt step is essential and has no Western-cheese parallel because Western fresh cheeses aren't brine-stored at this salinity.
Reference notes
Tags: `brined-cheese`, `white-cheese`, `salty`, `desalting-required`, `melting`, `levantine`. Related ingredients: nabulsi, halloumi, mozzarella, knafeh. Related cuisines: Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian. Suggested links: Nabulsi, Knafeh, Halloumi, Brining (technique).