{"id":56124,"date":"2018-08-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/56124\/the-traditional-lebanese-cheese-in-danger-of-disappearing"},"modified":"2024-02-12T06:54:19","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T06:54:19","slug":"the-traditional-lebanese-cheese-in-danger-of-disappearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/56124\/the-traditional-lebanese-cheese-in-danger-of-disappearing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Traditional Lebanese Cheese In Danger Of Disappearing"},"content":{"rendered":"Ambarees or Sirdeleh is one of the world\u2019s oldest and rarest cheeses, but it now is at risk of becoming extinct.
An iconic product of the Bekaa Valley, this goat milk cheese is made in unique clay jars. The time-consuming process of producing this cheese (also known as Labnet al Jarra<\/i>) is causing cheese makers to abandon the tradition.
![](\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/56124.png\")
Having survived over 2,000 years, there is a very particular method for making Ambarees: clay jars are rubbed and soaked in warm water and coarse salt for around a month before being filled with goat milk. This step is ideally completed in May because the milk is denser due to goats feeding on dry grass. Fifteen days later, the water residue of the milk is drained and fresh milk is topped up repeatedly until mid-September and then covered with cotton cloth. A month later, the Ambarees is manually removed from the jars and packaged.