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Cheese from Türkiye, Central Anatolia

Çömlek peyniri

Pot cheese of Central Anatolia. In the registered Talas type, milk is heated to 50–55 °C, set with rennet at 30–40 °C, pressed in cloth bags, washed in water for about a day, then salted, pressed again, crumbled, salted a second time and mixed with nigella seed. The curd is packed airtight into clay pots, which are turned upside down, and ripens in a cool place for at least 4 months.

Fully documentedCheese4.1 monthsTalas Çörekotlu Çömlek Peyniri is a geographical indication (TÜRKPATENT mahreç işareti No 1560, 2024)Family: Skin- and pot-ripened cheese family (Tulum, Çömlek)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe Talas registration's recipe for about 1 kg of cheese. Additives and flavourings are not allowed.
Milk, mostly cow; at least 25% sheep and/or goat milk may be used10 L[talas-tp]
Rennet (şirden mayası)10 mL[talas-tp]
SaltEnough for at most 5% in the finished cheese[talas-tp]
Nigella seed (çörekotu; Nigella sativa or N. damascena)At most 50 g[talas-tp]
Starterthe indigenous lactic acid bacteria flora of the milk, in the Cappadocian çömlek cheese studied

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.1 months

Start
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What changes: Fresh milk is strained through a cloth into the cauldron

Step 1 of 9
Strain the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactococcus lactis
Enterococcus faecium
Lactobacillus paracasei

Milk that is not made into cheese at once is kept at 0–4 °C.

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

Pot cheese of Central Anatolia. In the registered Talas type, milk is heated to 50–55 °C, set with rennet at 30–40 °C, pressed in cloth bags, washed in water for about a day, then salted, pressed again, crumbled, salted a second time and mixed with nigella seed. The curd is packed airtight into clay pots, which are turned upside down, and ripens in a cool place for at least 4 months. Made in 9 steps over 4.1 months. The longest step, ripen in a cool place, takes at least 4 months (TÜRKPATENT 1560). Homofermentative lactic acid bacteria of the milk, mostly Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, with Enterococcus faecium and Lactobacillus paracasei does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 4 monthsSet[talas-tp]Ripen in a cool place
Temperature50–55 °CSet[talas-tp]Heat the milk

What makes this one different

The curd is pressed twice, with a day's wash between, and salted twice before it is packed airtight into clay pots turned upside down; nigella seed flavours the Talas type.

Milk
Cow milk, about 10 L per kg of cheese; sheep or goat milk may be added
Ripening
At least 4 months in sealed pots
Composition
Dry matter at least 55%, salt in dry matter at most 5%; half-fat or full-fat

Related ferments

Safety

The registration heats the milk to 50–55 °C for at least 30 minutes, ripens the cheese at least 4 months and keeps it below 10 °C for storage and sale.

History and sources

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

Kayseri University and Talas municipality registered the Talas pot cheese in 2024, citing a long local tradition. A 2019 conference paper by Esen and Güzeler lists çömlek cheese among the traditional dairy products of the Cappadocia region and says that the coagulant used for it is also made locally (abstract).

  1. [talas-tp] TÜRKPATENT, Coğrafi işaret tescil belgesi No 1560, 'Talas Çörekotlu Çömlek Peyniri' (mahreç işareti), Kayseri Üniversitesi and Talas Belediyesi, registered 12.03.2024spec
  2. [bulut2005] Bulut C., Gunes H., Okuklu B., Harsa S., Kilic S., Coban H.S., Yenidunya A.F. 2005, Homofermentative lactic acid bacteria of a traditional cheese, Comlek peyniri from Cappadocia region, Journal of Dairy Research 72(1):19–24 (abstract)paper
  3. [esen2019] Esen M.K., Güzeler N. 2019, Cappadocia Region and Its Traditional Dairy Products, International Conference on Agronomy and Food Science Technology, pp. 56–68 (abstract)paper