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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Lebanon and the wider Levant

Jibne baladiجبنة بلدية

Jibne baladi ("local cheese") is the plain fresh white cheese of Lebanon, a rennet curd that is drained and shaped in moulds. It is set by enzyme rather than by bacteria and is not ripened, so it sits at the edge of fermentation. The same curd, pressed, becomes Akkawi. Made in 4 steps over 55 min. The longest step, heat-treat the milk, takes 30 min (Hassan HF 2021) and runs at 63 °C (Hassan HF 2021).

Key numbers
Main step30 minReported[hassan2021]Heat-treat the milk
Temperature63 °CReported[hassan2021]Heat-treat the milk

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe study gives temperatures and times, not amounts per litre; 450 kg of milk in all made 23 kg of Baladi and the other cheeses. Village makers use no fixed recipe.
Cow milk · In the study, pasteurised; half of one batch was skimmed and mixed back with full-fat milk, as local dairies do[hassan2021]
Microbial rennet[hassan2021]
Starter: none; rennet alone sets the milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 55 min

Start
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63 °C

What changes: The milk is held hot to pasteurise it, then cooled for renneting

Step 1 of 4
Heat-treat the milk
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
63 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Baladi is the first stage of a Lebanese chain of cheeses. In the study, the same rennet curd was shaped as Baladi, pressed to give Akkawi, then boiled and brined to give Halloum. Baladi itself is neither pressed, boiled nor ripened.

Milk
Cow milk (the study used pasteurised cow milk)
Setting
Rennet at about 40 °C; no starter, no ripening
Ripening
None; eaten fresh

Related ferments

Safety

Baladi is a fresh, unripened cheese with no acid or salt barrier of its own. Lebanese studies found Listeria monocytogenes in 26.67% of baladi cheese samples from the Bekaa Valley and the highest staphylococcal contamination of the dairy foods tested, so the heat treatment of the milk is the main safeguard.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, found in 26.67% of 45 baladi cheese samples from the Bekaa Valley; Staphylococcus aureus; baladi cheese had the highest staphylococcal contamination of three Lebanese dairy foods tested.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [hassan2021] Hassan HF, Saidy L, Haddad R, Hosri C, Asmar S, Jammoul A, Jammoul R, Hassan H, Serhan M. 2021. Investigation of the effects of some processing conditions on the fate of oxytetracycline and tylosin antibiotics in the making of commonly consumed cheeses from the East Mediterranean. Veterinary World 14, 1644–1649paper
  2. [harakeh2009] Harakeh S, Saleh I, Zouhairi O, Baydoun E, Barbour E, Alwan N. 2009. Antimicrobial resistance of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from dairy-based food products. Science of the Total Environment 407, 4022–4027 (abstract)paper
  3. [zouhairi2012] Zouhairi O, Saleh I, Alwan N, Toufeili I, Barbour E, Harakeh S. Antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus species isolated from Lebanese dairy-based products. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal 16, 1221–1225 (abstract)paper