Cheeses of Damietta
A Nile delta port that gave its name to domiati, Egypt's salty white cheese, salted in the milk before it sets.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: October to April, outside the summer heat.
Damietta stands where the eastern branch of the Nile meets the Mediterranean. It is a city of furniture workshops, fishing and sweets, and it gives its name to domiati, the most widely eaten cheese in Egypt. Made from buffalo or cow milk, often both, domiati is a soft white cheese kept in brine and eaten with bread at breakfast.
Domiati
What sets domiati apart is that salt is added to the milk before it is curdled, rather than to the curd afterwards. This lets the cheese be made in hot weather with little spoilage. It is eaten fresh, soft and mild, or aged in tins of salted whey for months, when it grows sharper. Aged in its brine with spices, it becomes the source of mish, a strong fermented cheese.
The delta
The Nile delta around Damietta is flat, fertile and full of water buffalo, the main source of cheese milk in Egypt. Fresh domiati is eaten with tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil and baladi bread, or with ful at breakfast. Damietta's sweet shops are known for their own pastries, and Ras El Bar, the beach resort, lies just to the north.
A trail idea for Damietta
- Damietta market Look for fresh and aged domiati in the dairy shops.
- The Nile corniche Walk along the river through the city.
- Ras El Bar The resort where the Nile meets the sea.
- An Egyptian breakfast Eat domiati with tomatoes, ful and baladi bread.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Damietta" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Domiati: MartinKassemJ120, CC BY-SA 4.0, source