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Cheese from Türkiye, Erzurum province

Civil peyniri / küflü civilErzurum Civil Peyniri

Skimmed cow milk is soured to 22 °SH with whey or by standing, set with liquid rennet and heated until the curd gathers at 52–65 °C, then kneaded, pulled and hung so it forms long strands. The fat-free string cheese is eaten fresh, brined or pressed. For küflü civil (göğermiş peynir) the strands are shredded, mixed with salted lor and packed into drums, where blue-green moulds grow over at least 60 days.

Fully documentedCheese2 monthsGeographical indications (TÜRKPATENT mahreç işareti No 116, 2009, and No 164)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe registration bans starter cultures and calcium chloride; only milk, rennet and salt are used. Its rennet dose is given two ways (4 mL per 100 mL in the text, 4 mL per 100 kg in the flow chart), so no dose is shown here.
Cow milk, skimmed with a separator (milk left after butter-making may be used)[civil-tp]
Whey, to bring the skim milk to 22 °SH (or the milk is left to stand)[civil-tp]
Liquid abomasum rennet[civil-tp]
Salt (brine of at most 7%, or dry salting)[civil-tp]
Salted lor (whey curd cheese), for küflü civil25–30% lor to 70–75% civil[kuflu-tp]
Starternone added; the skim milk is soured with whey or by standing

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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What changes: Cream is separated off and only the skim milk goes on

Step 1 of 9
Skim the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium roqueforti
Moulds
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

At a glance

Skimmed cow milk is soured to 22 °SH with whey or by standing, set with liquid rennet and heated until the curd gathers at 52–65 °C, then kneaded, pulled and hung so it forms long strands. The fat-free string cheese is eaten fresh, brined or pressed. For küflü civil (göğermiş peynir) the strands are shredded, mixed with salted lor and packed into drums, where blue-green moulds grow over at least 60 days. Made in 9 steps over 2 months. The longest step, let the moulds grow, takes at least 2 months (TÜRKPATENT) and runs at 8–12 °C (TÜRKPATENT). Salt is up to 7 % (TÜRKPATENT 2009). Penicillium roqueforti, the dominant mould growing on and inside küflü civil does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[kuflu-tp]Let the moulds grow
Temperature8–12 °CSet[kuflu-tp]Let the moulds grow
Saltup to 7 %Set[civil-tp]Drain and brine
AciditypH 5.1–5.6Set[kuflu-tp]Let the moulds grow

What makes this one different

Made from soured skim milk, the curd is heated, kneaded, pulled and hung, and the strands stay together as a block. The küflü civil registration says other string cheeses add a last step that makes the strands cylindrical, and civil does not. No starter or calcium chloride is allowed.

Milk
Skimmed cow milk; civil has at most 3% fat and at most 5% fat in dry matter
Ripening
Civil is eaten fresh or kept in brine; küflü civil ripens at least 60 days

Related ferments

Safety

Every one of 140 P. roqueforti strains from küflü civil produced some roquefortine C, penicillic acid, mycophenolic acid and patulin, at 0.1–47.0 mg/kg. Those are results for the strains, not levels measured in the cheese. The moulds grow in naturally, with no chosen culture, and the authors suggest choosing secondary cultures. In one study, biogenic amines in market civil stayed below toxic levels.

Hazards the sources name: Mycotoxins (roquefortine C, penicillic acid, mycophenolic acid and patulin), made by all 140 P. roqueforti strains tested from küflü civil; the abstract gives no level in the cheese itself.

History and sources

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

Erzurum civil was registered as a geographical indication in 2009, with amendments in 2019 and 2021; the mould-ripened göğermiş peynir has its own registration, filed in 2010.

  1. [civil-tp] TÜRKPATENT, Coğrafi işaret tescil belgesi No 116, 'Erzurum Civil Peyniri' (mahreç işareti), Erzurum Ticaret Borsası, published in the Official Gazette 06.02.2009spec
  2. [kuflu-tp] TÜRKPATENT, Coğrafi işaret tescil belgesi No 164, 'Erzurum Küflü Civil Peyniri (Göğermiş Peynir)' (mahreç işareti), Erzurum Ticaret Borsasıspec
  3. [cakmakci2012] Cakmakci S., Cetin B., Gurses M., Dagdemir E., Hayaloglu A.A. 2012, Morphological, molecular, and mycotoxigenic identification of dominant filamentous fungi from moldy civil cheese, Journal of Food Protection 75(11):2045–2049 (abstract)paper
  4. [cakmakci2015] Cakmakci S., Gurses M., Hayaloglu A.A., Cetin B., Sekerci P., Dagdemir E. 2015, Mycotoxin production capability of Penicillium roqueforti in strains isolated from mould-ripened traditional Turkish civil cheese, Food Additives & Contaminants Part A 32(2):245–249 (abstract)paper
  5. [yildiz2010] Yildiz F., Yetisemiyen A., Senel E., Durlu-Özkaya F., Öztekin S., Sanli E. 2010, Some properties of Civil cheese: a type of traditional Turkish cheese, International Journal of Dairy Technology 63(4):575–580 (abstract)paper