Feta (aged)

Why feta (aged) is rated low

Feta is low FODMAP, which is the answer most people are after before they crumble it over a salad. The rating is estimated from what the cheese is made of rather than from a weighed serving, so the ladder is described in words rather than numbers, and it has two rungs that tell slightly different stories. A Small serving comes in low. A Large serving is moderate. So feta earns its low rating at the amount you would actually scatter over a bowl, and the thing to know is that it does not stay there if the crumble turns into the main event.

What changes your risk

• Where you sit on the ladder This is the whole story for feta. A Small serving is low and a Large serving is moderate, so the difference between a topping and a course is the difference between the two rungs.
• Marinated and flavoured tubs Feta packed in oil with seasonings is a different product from a plain block in brine. Garlic is a common addition to marinated feta, so check what is in the oil before you treat the tub as equivalent to the block.
• What else is in the bowl A low rating is per serving, not per meal. Feta lands most often on a salad or a grain bowl alongside things that bring their own load, so consider the plate as a whole and spread servings across the day rather than stacking them into one sitting.
• Crumbling by eye Feta breaks into small pieces that disappear into a dish, which makes it very easy to drift from a Small serving to a Large serving without noticing. Crumbling into a bowl first and then scattering keeps the amount visible.
• Heat changes nothing Baking feta or melting it into a dish does not lower its FODMAP content, because cooking does not destroy FODMAPs. Water-soluble FODMAPs can leach out into cooking or canning liquid, which is a real effect for things like drained and rinsed canned legumes, but it is not what happens to a baked block of cheese.

What else works

When a Small serving of feta is not going to be enough for the dish you have in mind, the hard aged cheeses are the place to go, since cheddar, parmesan, swiss and aged gouda all sit low and any of them can do the salty, savoury job feta was doing. Parmesan in particular gives you a lot of salt and flavour for a small scatter. The lookalikes worth being careful with are the fresh, soft cheeses that sit near feta in the chilled aisle: ricotta, cottage cheese and cream cheese are different products and are not swaps for it. The same goes for a creamy dressing built on ordinary milk or cream. If a recipe needs something pourable and creamy, lactose-free milk or lactose-free yoghurt is the honest choice, and both are ordinary dairy with the lactase enzyme added rather than dairy-free products, so neither is suitable for a milk allergy.

How to keep it low

Buy feta as a block in brine rather than pre-crumbled, since the block keeps better, tastes better and, more usefully, lets you cut what you want instead of tipping from a bag. Keep it submerged in its brine in the fridge and it will stay firm for weeks. When you are building a salad, crumble a Small serving into a small bowl first and scatter from there, so the amount stays where the data says it is low instead of climbing towards the Large serving rung by accident. Eating out, the feta on a Greek salad is usually the least of the concerns: ask instead about the dressing and whether there is onion in the bowl, since those are the parts of the dish that actually move the load.

Common questions

is feta low fodmap

Yes. Feta is low FODMAP, with a rating estimated from what the cheese is made of. On its ladder a Small serving comes in low, while a Large serving is moderate.

how much feta can i eat

Keep it to a Small serving, which is the rung that reads low. A Large serving climbs to moderate, so feta works best as a topping rather than as the centre of the plate.

can i eat feta on the elimination phase

A Small serving of feta is low, so it generally fits during elimination. Watch the dressing, the bread and any onion in the salad rather than the cheese itself, and do any reintroduction work with a dietitian.

is marinated feta ok on a low fodmap diet

It depends on what it is marinated in. Garlic and other seasonings are common in marinated tubs and bring their own load, so read the ingredient list. The rating here is for plain aged feta.