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Cheese from Türkiye, Kars province

Kars Gravyer Peyniri

Raw or pasteurised cow milk from cows grazed on the Kars plateaus between late April and mid-August is set with calf rennet, cut to lentil-size grains and cooked to 53–57 °C. The curd is pressed into huge wheels, salted in brine or dry salt, then ripened first in a warm room, where gas forms the eyes, and then for months in a cold room. Wheels weigh 55–85 kg and ripen 6–12 months.

Fully documentedCheese5.2 months – 8.5 monthsGeographical indication (mahreç işareti) No. 1640, Türkiye (applied 2021, registered 2024)Family: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceDoses from the registration per 100 L of milk. The traditional house rennet from 3 g of dried stomach is enough for about 500 kg of milk.
Cow milk from cows grazed on Kars plateaus, late April to mid-AugustRaw milk accepted at no more than 0.18 % acidity (8 °SH); fat adjusted to 3–3.4 % in the industrial method[kars-gi]
Calf rennet10 ml per 100 L of milk (industrial); 100 ml per 100 L of house rennet (traditional)The traditional house rennet is about 3 g of dried calf, kid or lamb stomach soaked in 500 ml whey at 30–35 °C for 1–1.5 days[kars-gi]
Starter culture of Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. lactis and Propionibacterium shermanii (industrial method only)[kars-gi]
Salt, as 22 °Bé brine or dry rock salt[kars-gi]
Starterno starter culture in the traditional method (a few makers rarely add a piece of grated old gravyer); a culture with propionic bacteria in the industrial method

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.2 months – 8.5 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countS. thermophilusL. delbrueckiiP. shermaniiLactic acid bacteria32–37 °C

What changes: Warm plateau milk sets with calf rennet in a kettle

Step 1 of 6
Collect plateau milk and set with rennet
Time
35–40 min
Set
Temperature
32–37 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii
P. shermanii
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
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

Raw or pasteurised cow milk from cows grazed on the Kars plateaus between late April and mid-August is set with calf rennet, cut to lentil-size grains and cooked to 53–57 °C. The curd is pressed into huge wheels, salted in brine or dry salt, then ripened first in a warm room, where gas forms the eyes, and then for months in a cold room. Wheels weigh 55–85 kg and ripen 6–12 months. Made in 6 steps over 5.2 months – 8.5 months. The longest step, ripen in the cold room, takes 3.5–6 months (Türk Patent ve Marka Kurumu 2024) and runs at 7–12 °C (Türk Patent ve Marka Kurumu 2024). Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. lactis and Propionibacterium shermanii (industrial starter); propionic bacteria make the CO2 that forms the eyes and Native non-starter lactic acid bacteria; of 120 isolates, Lactobacillus brevis (25 %), Pediococcus pentosaceus (18.3 %), L. paracasei (14.1 %) and L. fermentum (13.3 %) led do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3.5–6 monthsSet[kars-gi]Ripen in the cold room
Temperature7–12 °CSet[kars-gi]Ripen in the cold room
AciditypH 5.1–5.2Set[kars-gi]Press into great wheels

What makes this one different

Kars gravyer is a Turkish mountain cheese in the Swiss style, made only from summer plateau milk and ripened first in a warm room for eye formation and then in a cold room. The traditional method uses no starter culture, only milk, house rennet and, rarely, a piece of grated old cheese.

Size
Wheels 55–70 cm across, 15–17 cm high, 55–85 kg
Composition
Fat 23–42 %, dry matter 63–80 %, protein 24–34 %, salt 1–4 %, pH 5.7–6.85
Ripening
6–12 months in all

Related ferments

Variants

  • Traditional method ('Geleneksel Yöntemle Üretilmiştir')No starter culture, house rennet, a 26–35 °C warm room and 4–6 months cold ripening
  • Industrial methodMilk may be pasteurised at 65 °C for 30 minutes and a propionic starter is added, which shortens ripening

Safety

Raw milk is accepted only at low acidity (no more than 0.18 %, 8 °SH), and the curd is cooked to 53–57 °C before months of ripening. The finished cheese is kept at 4–6 °C.

History and sources

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

The registration says Swiss cheesemakers arriving from the Alps via the Caucasus opened the first dairy at Boğatepe village in 1890. Molokan settlers kept it going, and the Karapapak (Terekeme) Turks, who settled in Kars in 1920, carried the craft on. The geographical indication was applied for in 2021 and registered on 17 September 2024.

  1. [kars-gi] Türk Patent ve Marka Kurumu 2024, Coğrafi işaret tescil belgesi No. 1640, 'Kars Gravyer Peyniri' (mahreç işareti), registered by Kars Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası (copy published by the Kars provincial directorate of agriculture)spec
  2. [turgut2012] Turgut T., Erdoğan A., Atasever M. 2012, Identification of Nonstarter Indigenous Lactobacilli from Kars Gravier Cheese, Kafkas Universitesi Veteriner Fakultesi Dergisi 18(5):781–784paper
  3. [kavak2025] Kavak A.E., Alimoğlu Z.B., Özdemir A., Dertli E. 2025, Isolation, Characterisation and Vitamin B12 Production Optimization of P. freudenreichii from Turkish Traditional Kars Gravyer, Fermentation 11(12):704 (abstract)paper