There are many factors that contribute to the cheese culture and diversity in Turkey. The type of livestock varies greatly due to the geography of each region, meaning there are many different types of cheese made with the milk of a variety of animals.
It’s a cultural journey that starts with the settlement of the Molokans on the Kars-Ardahan plateau during the Ottoman-Russian war. The Ottomans lost the war and Kars fell into the hands of the Russians, though it is now a Turkish city.
Meanwhile, a very important individual arrived in the city: David Moser. Moser, a Swiss cheese producer, likened the geographical structure of Kars to that of Gruyère and established a gruyere workshop there.
The Molokans, who had only recently migrated to the region, learnt the cheese production methods. And, when the Russians withdrew from the region, after the October Revolution of 1917, the very few Molokans[*] who specialized in cheese production continued production.
[*] The Molokans (молокан, "dairy-eater") are a Russian Spiritual Christian sect that evolved from Eastern Orthodoxy in the East Slavic lands. Their traditions, especially dairy consumption during Christian fasts, did not conform to those of the Russian Orthodox Church, and they were regarded as heretics (sektanty).
Kaşar/Kasseri (κασέρι) is a semi-hard to hard consistency, smooth rather than crumbly, chewy, pale yellow cheese with a hard rind made from pasteurised or unpasteurised sheep milk and at most 20% goat's milk. It belongs to the pasta filata family of “spun paste” or “stretched curd,” cheeses, which includes fresh cheeses like mozzarella and aged ones like Provolone or Caciocavallo.
It has a PDO designation of Thessaly, Macedonia, Lesbos, or Xanthi. Similarly found in Turkey, Romania, and the Balkans, as kashkaval. Can be made with cow's milk, but cannot be legally sold as "kasseri" in the EU.
It is also a Jewish cheese specific to the Edirne region. It is said to be suitable for Jewish religious customs because no tripe is used in its production. It may be a loanword from the Hebrew word kosher כָּשֵׁר, meaning "(food) in accordance with Jewish religious laws", but this is not certain.
It is made in various sizes and shapes, usually balls or slices, and can be used as a substitute for Parmigiano Reggiano. It is often used in salads and baked dishes.
Made from goats' milk it is a salty, spicy cheese, with intense smell and a sharp taste.
In recent years, a debate has emerged regarding the origin of feta cheese, with both Greece and Turkey claiming ownership of this culinary treasure. The European Union‘s recognition of feta cheese as a Greek product has further fueled the controversy. However, it is important to recognize that feta cheese has been produced in both Greece and Turkey for centuries, and its origins are deeply intertwined with the culinary traditions of both countries.
10) MANYAS LOR/CURD
Lor ve çökelek cheeses especially Manyas’s sweet curd: If you pour a little strawberry jam on it, it makes it wonderful. Use instead of cottage cheese in pies and pasta sauce.
Lor/Curd, which is usually obtained from cow's milk, is produced by heating the whey produced during cheese production in a cauldron and coagulating it. Then, the formed curds are filtered with the help of a cloth. Curd cheese is produced from the whey produced especially during the production of kashar cheese. The reason is that during the boiling process of kashar cheese, some milk fat passes into the whey. There are two types of curd cheese products: salted or unsalted. Curd cheese, which has a very high nutritional value, provides many benefits for the human body thanks to the minerals and vitamins it contains.
This cheese, which has a very characteristic flavor that lingers in the mouth, is produced by processing cow’s or sheep’s milk. Produced in the Circassian populated regions of Turkey, this cheese gets its name from the smokey process during the preparation process. With its intense and slightly salty taste, it can be used in harmony with different dishes. Circassian cheese, which is generally preferred in breakfasts, appetizers and salads, is also a perfect complement in cheese pies and meals.
It is ripened with salt and kept in a cold environment for a few days, then it is smoked for a week. If you like smoked flavors, fry or grill the cheese for a few minutes to bring out the flavor.
13) ERZINCAN AND IZMIR TULUMS
There are tulum cheeses from many cities in Turkey, but two
are particularly popular across the country. From East Turkey comes Erzincan
Tulum Cheese, and from the West comes Izmir Tulum Cheese. Apart from a name they are not similar in taste and look.
There is also "Otlu tulum peyniri", or Tulum with herbs, in Ankara. It is a type of cheese that is generally produced using only sheep’s milk, or sheep’s, goat’s and cow’s milk together. The cheese gets its name and taste from the aging method.
Pressed with salt into a bag made of animal skin, this cheese turns into one of the sharpest, most delicious and unforgettable cheeses you can eat. Cheese bags are sometimes prepared in natural caves and sometimes in humid and dark artificial environments. The special Tulum cheeses of each city go very well at breakfasts, or with pastries and pastas.
14) ANTALYA SURK
What makes this dried curdle cheese special is that it is blended with zahter, tomato paste, and spices. This mixture is shaped and dried and goes through a short molding phase.
To prepare it for eating, it is crumbled up and olive oil is drizzled over it. You can imagine the level of flavor when accompanied with toasted bread. With full Turkish breakfast culture (serpme breakfast) spreading round the country, you should be able to try this local flavor almost anywhere in Turkey.
15) KES/KASHK[*]
Produced using a pressure method in cloth bags after being degreased, this cheese is kneaded with various flavors and dried in the sun.
It has a slightly sour-ish, fat-free, whitish color, making it perfect with yufka – a type of bread that is dried after pre-cooking.
[*] There are three main kinds of food products with this name: foods based on curdled milk products like yogurt or cheese; foods based on barley broth, bread, or flour; and foods based on cereals combined with curdled milk. In Turkey, kashk is a dried yogurt product also known as keş peyniri, kurut, taş yoğurt, kuru yoğurt, or katık keşi.
Kashk (Persian: کشک Kašk, Turkish: keş), (Sorani Kurdish: کەشک) qurut (Tuvan and Kyrgyz: курут, Kazakh: құрт, Turkmen: gurt, Uzbek: qurut, Azerbaijani: qurut, Tajik: қурут, Pashto: قروت, Turkish: kurut), chortan (Armenian: չորթան chort’an), or aaruul and khuruud (Mongolian: ааруул or хурууд) is a range of dairy products popular in Iranian cuisine, Caucasian cuisine, and Central Asian cuisine. Kashk is made from strained yogurt, drained buttermilk (in particular, drained qatiq) or drained sour milk by shaping it and letting it dry. It can be made in a variety of forms, like rolled into balls, sliced into strips, and formed into chunks.
16) VAN HERBED CHEESE
One of the most unique Turkish cheeses is Van Herb Cheese, which definitely lives up to its name. Around 25 herbs specific to the region are used. It is produced in the spring months, when sheep’s milk is most abundant, and the grass diversity is at its highest. It is blended with salt and ripened for between 3 and 7 months.Van's traditional herb cheese is usually produced from sheep's milk in the spring, when both milk and grass are abundant. However, sheep's milk is also sometimes mixed with cow's or goat's milk.
One of the traditional cheese storage methods still used in Van is to leave it in jars and bury it in the ground. Cheese cubes were found with calcified and sedimented cheese in the Hoşap Castle excavations from 200-250 years ago.
17) GAZIANTEP PRESSED CHEESE
This is a cheese known all over Turkey as “village cheese”. It
is made with fermented and filtered milk and pressed and shaped by hand. It has
a reputation for being very salty as keeping it in brine is the best way of
preserving it for delivery to every region of Türkiye. It has to be placed in
hot water before eating to thoroughly cleanse it of the salt. It is also known
as Gaziantep pressed cheese.
18) DIL PEYNIRI
There are different versions of this cheese, which has very
little salt melts well. The unsalted künefe cheese, used in the dessert künefe,
is also produced by the same method. What distinguishes this cheese from the
other string cheeses is that it is made with whole milk.
Braided cheese is also prepared in a similar way and, although it is knitted into a large mass, it can be separated into thin strings. This cheese has a bright white color and oily texture.
19) KOLOT CHEESE
This is one of the most popular cheeses in the Black Sea
region. It is also the main ingredient of the breakfast dish called Mıhlama
kuymak, which is known and loved all over Turkey. This medium-hard cheese, with
its light yellow color, is left to mature in wooden barrels.
There is not much difference between Kolot cheese and string
cheese. Both are made using the same methods from milk from the lush highlands
of the Eastern Black Sea Region. Their taste and uses are almost the same.
String cheese differs from Kolot only in that its shape is made into long
threads.
String-shaped cheeses are also quite common in other parts
of Turkey. For example, Çeçil of Kars and Civil cheese of Erzurum are some of
Turkey’s string cheese treasures. Civil and Cecil cheese can be distinguished
by the fact that they are prepared with skimmed milk and sometimes appear as
blue cheeses.
20) MOULDY CHEESE
Cheese is a dairy product obtained by processing milk coagulated with rennet, harmless organic acids or starter cultures, salting it and harmless local substances that give flavor and odor depending on the region (grass in Erzurum, mold in Konya, etc.), and maturing it at different times and temperatures. Since all of the protein, calcium, fat and vitamins found in milk are concentrated in cheese, it is a very useful foodstuff. Approximately 20% of the milk production in our country is processed as cheese.
Moldy cheese, which is consumed with pleasure in the Konya region, is obtained by cutting various parts of tulum cheese after it has matured and placing it in basements, cellars and caves to mold it. Unfortunately, most of the moldy cheeses made in Turkey are made in unhygienic environments far from science.
The mold that gives the cheese its blue color is Penicillium roqueforti. This mold is first used in Roquefort, which gives the cheese its name, and in many cheeses such as Gorgonzola, Danish blue, Shropshire Blue and Stilton, Bleu du Vercors Sassenage, Brebiblu, Cabrales, Cambozola (Blue Brie), Cashel Blue, Fourme d'Ambert, Fourme de Montbrison, Lanark Blue. It is known that this mold, which gives the cheese a beautiful aroma, has been used in cheeses since the 50s BC. Moldy cheese first entered literature in 79 BC when Pliny the Elder mentioned its intense aroma.
Erzurum Moldy Cheese / Erzurum Küflü Civil Peyniri (Göğermiş Peynir)
Erzurum Moldy Civil Cheese is obtained by shredding civil cheese and mixing it with curd cheese and ripening it, or by shredding plain civil cheese, pressing it into plastic containers suitable for food packaging, removing its water, and aging and molding it by waiting under natural conditions. This cheese, which draws attention with its green and blue molds, is also called gogermis cheese, green cheese or kerti cheese by the locals. The cold climate of the Erzurum region provides ideal conditions for the cheese to ripen and mold. The cheese is usually matured by storing it in airtight containers in cool and dry environments in caves or special warehouses. At the end of this process, the characteristic green and blue mold layer of the cheese is formed.
21) CROCK CHEESE
There is a type of cheese that is given dozens of different names, for example pot, jug, crock. Although the type of milk, flavoring and rennet used differs, the storage method is always the same. After the cheese is pressed into a ceramic pot, the pot is closed up and buried under the ground, allowing it to mature. It is a method commonly used in the inner parts of Anatolia. Prepared using full-fat cow’s milk, rennet, and salt, Sivas pottery cheese is perhaps the simplest of the pottery cheeses.
Yalvac Pottery Cheese is prepared in the same way, but covered with a special mortar before aging. This cheese, with black cumin, matures for about one year and has a unique smell and bitter taste.
In fact, every city in Central Anatolia has its own Çömlek
cheese, which has many names such as Yozgat pot cheese, Avanos pottery cheese,
Kayseri crock cheese, and Niğde pottery cheese. You would expect these cheese
to be much the same. The types of milk used in the various cities which are
geographically close, the diet of the animals that provide the milk, and the
climate of the regions are very similar. In fact, even the storage techniques
are basically the same.
But the small differences directly affect the quality,
aroma, taste, smell, and texture of cheese. For example, the mouth of some pots
is covered with cloth, some with lard, some with mud, and some with stones.
Where it is buried is sometimes soil, sometimes sand. A slight difference in
production, aging or storage method adds new cheese to our cheese treasures.
The survival of such a cultural treasure has depended on the
transfer of centuries-old traditions and methods to new generations.
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SEE: The Treasury of Turkish Cheeses by SUZANNE SWAN.
Cheese is a traditional flavor on our tables... Our encounter with cheese starts at breakfast, continues until lunch, tea and dinner. There are so many varieties that we don't even know about in our own country... Good news for cheese enthusiasts... With the English narration, you will both whet your appetite and find yourself traveling to our various regions. You will follow the adventure of cheese from the Ottomans to the present day, and you will have pleasant moments from Dursunbey Cheese to Goat Butter, from Pickled Cheese to Sanliurfa Spring Cheese.
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"We set out to pursue this dream with the enthusiasm of the cultural cheese heritage that the world belongs to and the Anatolian richness that we possess.
With Antre Gourmet, which we opened in 2000, we set out to make cheese with the ideal of transforming Turkish cheeses into a value like the ones in the world..."
For many of these cheeses visit: Antre Gourmet Shop a small
boutique in Cihangir is a paradise of charcuterie, cheeses from regions all
over Turkey and Europe, olives, olive oils, coffee and jams. They even have a
small wine range. The inviting green exterior will get you in – the mixture of
appetizing smells will make you stay. They also make take-away sandwiches and
have a catering service.
Located at Akarsu Caddesi No. 40/A, Cihangir, Istanbul
- T: +90 212 292 89 72 | E: info@antregourmet.com
With the work carried out by the Balikesir Metropolitan Municipality Rural Services Department, Balikesir cheese types produced in different regions of Balikesir were compiled into a book and published. The book, which includes 50 different types of cheese, recorded Balikesir cheeses; and also introduced the book, which includes a general culinary, sociological, cultural and geographical compilation of local cheeses of Balikesir and its districts.
The content of the 279-page book, written by Berrin Bal Onur and Neşe Aksoy Biber, consists of the titles General Overview of Balikesir, Milk and Dairy Products, Balikesir Cheeses and Dairy Products, Balikesir Cheese Roads and Current Overview of Balikesir's Milk and Dairy Products.
Along with the local-traditional cheeses that have reached 50 in number, many products accompanying cheese such as yoghurt, butter, clotted cream, bread, honey, olives have been identified and recorded. In the book where the stories, history and production of 50 cheese varieties are told, the almost extinct Küflü Katık Cheese, Bezde Katık Cheese, Kara Usul Circassian Cheeses, Dağarcık Tulum, Kirli Hanım Cheese and Woolly Tulum Cheese have also been examined and the book has become a written source so that their production can continue.
In addition, the Ayvalık Cunda Sepet Cheese, İvrindi Sheep Kelle Cheese, Savaştepe Mihaliç Cheese, Sındırgı Sheep Cheese, Sındırgı Yörük Cheeses, Manyas Tulum Cheese, Circassian Cheese and Havran Goat Cheese, which are known all over Turkey, are also included in the book.
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