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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Turkey

Beyaz peynirbeyaz peynir

Turkey's most popular cheese is a white, brined block cheese with a salty, acid taste. Pasteurised milk is cultured and renneted at about 32 °C, cut, pressed into a curd sheet (teleme) and cut into blocks. The blocks are salted in strong brine and ripen in weaker brine in the cold for weeks to months. Made in 6 steps over 22 days – 3.3 months. The longest step, ripen in brine in the cold, takes 21 days – 3.3 months (Güven M 2006) and runs at 4–7 °C (Yaman H 2023). Salt is 16 % (Yaman H 2023). Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and subsp. cremoris does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step21 days – 3.3 monthsReported[guven2006][yaman2023]Ripen in brine in the cold
Temperature4–7 °CReported[yaman2023][guven2006]Ripen in brine in the cold
Salt16 %Reported[yaman2023]Cut into blocks and brine
AciditypH 6.4Reported[yaman2023]Add starter and rennet

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts from one pilot-plant make (Yaman et al. 2023); the percentages are of the milk weight or of the brine.
Whole cow milk · Pasteurised at 65 °C for 30 min in one make[yaman2023]
0.002 %Mesophilic starter (Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and subsp. cremoris)[yaman2023]
0.2 %Calcium chloride[yaman2023]
Calf rennet or chymosin[yaman2023][guven2006]
16 % NaCl brine, then 12 % brineSalt[yaman2023]
Startermesophilic Lactococcus lactis cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 22 days – 3.3 months

Start
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65 °C

What changes: The milk is held at 65 °C for 30 minutes

Step 1 of 6
Pasteurise the milk
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
65 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis

Output: pasteurised milk.

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

Beyaz peynir is pressed into a flat curd sheet (teleme) before it is cut into blocks. Feta is ladled into moulds instead. Salt in the ripening brine varies widely between dairies.

Milk
Cow milk in the studies cited; the cheese is also made from other milks
Ripening
At least three weeks for fresh classic cheese; up to six months for Ezine-type cheese
Brine
8.5–23.5 g NaCl per 100 g brine in four dairies; 12 g per 100 g gave the best flavour in one trial

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ezine peyniriA white cheese ripened up to six months.

Safety

The makes cited used pasteurised cow milk and ripened the cheese in brine at 4–7 °C.

History and sources

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

  1. [yaman2023] Yaman H., Aykas D.P., Rodriguez-Saona L.E. 2023, Monitoring Turkish white cheese ripening by portable FT-IR spectroscopy, Frontiers in Nutrition 10:1107491paper
  2. [guven2006] Güven M., Yerlikaya S., Hayaloglu A.A. 2006, Influence of salt concentration on the characteristics of Beyaz cheese, a Turkish white-brined cheese, Le Lait 86:73–81paper
  3. [hayaloglu2002] Hayaloglu A.A., Guven M., Fox P.F. 2002, Microbiological, biochemical and technological properties of Turkish White cheese 'Beyaz Peynir', International Dairy Journal 12:635–648 (review; abstract read)paper