Jibneh arabieh substitutes

The closest thing in an ordinary supermarket, and the reason is the melt. Jibneh arabieh belongs to the family of fresh brined cheeses that soften and stretch under heat, which is what makes it the cheese for knafeh, kunafa and cheese-filled pastries, and mozzarella is the one Western cheese that behaves the same way. Both are mild, milky and gentle. What changes: mozzarella is even less salty than jibneh arabieh, so a breakfast plate tastes bland unless you add a pinch of salt, and fresh mozzarella carries a lot of water, which will make a pastry filling weep and go soggy. Use the low-moisture block for anything baked, and drain fresh mozzarella hard if that is what you have.

Best for

knafeh, kunafa and sweet cheese pastries, cheese fatayer and sambousek, grilled cheese sandwiches with za'atar, breakfast plates, with a little added salt

For sweet pastries, the traditional trick is to blend a little ricotta into the mozzarella, which softens the texture and stops the filling turning rubbery as it cools. Slice or tear rather than grating fresh mozzarella, and press it between kitchen paper for ten minutes to drive off water before it goes into dough.

Not really a substitute so much as the closest cousin, and if your grocer has it, stop looking. Akkawi is the Levantine white brined cheese sold specifically for cheese pastries, and it slices, melts and stretches in the same way. What changes: akkawi is often preserved in a much stronger brine than jibneh arabieh, sometimes aggressively so, which is why it is traditionally soaked in several changes of cold water for a few hours before use. Soaked, it is mild and milky and almost indistinguishable. Unsoaked, it will make a sweet knafeh taste startlingly salty.

Best for

knafeh and kunafa, cheese fatayer and pastries, breakfast plates, any recipe naming jibneh arabieh, baladi or Arabic white cheese

Cube or slice it, cover it with cold water and change the water two or three times over two to four hours, tasting a piece each time until it is only lightly salty. Nabulsi cheese is a related option and is also usually soaked, though it is firmer and squeakier and better fried than melted.

An excellent swap for every use except melting, and it is stocked in far more supermarkets than any Middle Eastern cheese. Queso fresco is a fresh, lightly salted, mildly milky white cheese that is firm enough to slice and crumbly enough to scatter - which describes jibneh arabieh's role at breakfast almost exactly. What changes: it does not melt. Heated, it softens and holds its shape or dries out rather than flowing and stretching, so it is entirely wrong for knafeh or a cheese pastry that depends on a molten pull. Cold, alongside olives, tomato, cucumber and bread, it is very close indeed.

Best for

Levantine breakfast plates, salads and sandwiches, crumbling over cooked vegetables and eggs, anywhere the cheese is served cold

Buy the firmer block sort rather than the very soft crumbly kind if you want to slice it. Because it is milder than jibneh arabieh, a small pinch of salt over the slices makes a noticeable difference. Do not use it in any baked cheese pastry expecting it to melt.

The right choice when the cheese is going to be sliced for breakfast or fried, and a poor one when it needs to melt. Halloumi has the firm, squeaky, sliceable body jibneh arabieh has, and it is a brined white cheese from the same broad tradition. What changes: two things. Halloumi is considerably saltier, which a soak in a few changes of cold water largely fixes, and it is specifically designed not to melt - heated, it softens and browns while holding its shape. So it is superb sliced and pan-fried alongside eggs and flatbread, and useless as a filling for kunafa where you want a stretchy pull.

Best for

breakfast plates, sliced or fried, grilling and pan-frying, salads, sandwiches with tomato and za'atar

Soak, then pat dry thoroughly before frying, or it will spit and steam rather than brown. Halloumi turns squeaky and rubbery as it cools, so serve it hot from the pan. Kashkaval is a better option than halloumi if what you need is a melting cheese, though it is sharper and more mature-tasting than jibneh arabieh.

Widely available, cheap, and closer in texture than most people expect - firm, white, dense and completely mild, which is precisely the character of jibneh arabieh. What changes: paneer contains no salt at all, so you must season it yourself and it will taste of nothing if you forget. It also does not melt, being an acid-set cheese, so it softens and stays put under heat rather than stretching. As a sliced breakfast cheese, salted and drizzled with olive oil and za'atar, it does a genuinely good job for very little money.

Best for

breakfast plates, salted and dressed, frying in slices, salads and sandwiches, budget substitutions

Sprinkle the slices with salt and let them sit for ten minutes before serving so the seasoning penetrates rather than sitting on the surface. Do not use paneer in knafeh or any pastry that needs a molten cheese pull.

This is the substitution most recipes suggest and it deserves a warning rather than a recommendation. Feta is far saltier than jibneh arabieh, distinctly tangy and acidic from its longer ripening, and it does not melt cleanly - it softens, crumbles and releases fat rather than flowing. What changes: a breakfast plate made with feta tastes sharp and briny where it should taste mild and milky, and a sweet knafeh made with feta tastes like a mistake. If it is genuinely all you have, soak it in cold water or, better, milk for several hours with two changes to pull out the salt, and use it cold rather than baked. Expect a tangier dish and reduce the salt everywhere else.

Best for

cold breakfast plates when nothing else is available, salads, where the extra tang is welcome, crumbling over cooked vegetables

Milk pulls salt out more gently than water and leaves the cheese tasting creamier. Sheep feta is sharper than cow feta, so choose cow if you have the option. Never substitute feta in a sweet cheese pastry - use mozzarella, ideally blended with a little ricotta, for that.

A quiet, useful option for cold uses. Farmer cheese is pressed fresh curd - mild, faintly tangy, dry and crumbly - which puts it very close to jibneh arabieh in flavour if not in body. What changes: it is drier and more crumbly than a block of brined white cheese, so it does not slice neatly, and it will not melt or stretch. It is also usually unsalted or barely salted. Where it shines is scattered over a breakfast plate, folded into a savoury pastry filling with herbs, or spread on bread with olive oil and za'atar.

Best for

savoury cheese fatayer fillings, breakfast plates, spreading on bread, mixing with herbs and olive oil

Salt it and let it sit before use. For a pastry filling, mixing it with a little grated low-moisture mozzarella gives you both the fresh curd flavour and enough melt to hold together.