Arsenikó Náxou

A spicy sheep's and goat's milk cheese made for over a thousand years in the highlands of Náxos, and drained in special baskets called tirovola that give it the pattern on its dark ring. The name means 'manly male'; today it's designated PDO (ΠΟΠ).

To balance out the masculine cheese, the Naxians also make a soft white 'feminine' cheese called θηλυκό τυρί (thyliko tyri); and what's leftover from the thyliko tyri is gathered and fermented with herbs to make Κομός Νάξου (komos Naxou).