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Cheese from Türkiye, Kars and Ardahan provinces

Kars Kaşarı

Full-fat milk from May to August grazing is set with rennet at 32–35 °C, drained and pressed, and the curd (teleme) is left to sour for a few hours until its pH falls to 5.0–5.2. The soured curd is sliced thin and scalded in salted water at 72–78 °C for 2–3 minutes until it stretches like gum, then kneaded by hand and moulded. The wheels pre-ripen 30–40 days in north-facing rooms cooled by the karayel wind, then age 3–6 months in cold stores.

Fully documentedCheese4 months – 7.4 monthsGeographical indication (designation of origin, menşe adı) No. 190, Türkiye (protected from 2014)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe registration gives no amounts. Wheels are 2–2.5 kg or 12–12.5 kg.
Full-fat cow milk from pasture-fed animals, May to August; sheep or goat milk may be added[kasar-gi]
Commercial animal rennet (chymosin and pepsin)[kasar-gi]
Salt (food-industry salt), in the scalding water or rubbed on dry[kasar-gi]

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 months – 7.4 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaEnterococcusLactobacillusStreptococcus32–35 °C

What changes: Rennet sets the warm, unskimmed milk in about an hour

Step 1 of 7
Set the whole milk with rennet
Time
1 h
Set
Temperature
32–35 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Enterococcus
Lactobacillus
Streptococcus

The milk is not skimmed. The curd is broken to about sugar-cube size.

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

Full-fat milk from May to August grazing is set with rennet at 32–35 °C, drained and pressed, and the curd (teleme) is left to sour for a few hours until its pH falls to 5.0–5.2. The soured curd is sliced thin and scalded in salted water at 72–78 °C for 2–3 minutes until it stretches like gum, then kneaded by hand and moulded. The wheels pre-ripen 30–40 days in north-facing rooms cooled by the karayel wind, then age 3–6 months in cold stores. Made in 7 steps over 4 months – 7.4 months. The longest step, age in cold stores, takes 3–6 months (Coğrafi işaret tescil No. 190 2015) and runs at 2–8 °C (Coğrafi işaret tescil No. 190 2015). Native thermophilic lactic acid bacteria; of 170 whey isolates, Enterococcus and Lactobacilli, lactococci and Leuconostoc in cheeses from five Kars dairies; counts rose until day 30 and then fell slightly, while enterococci fell throughout ripening do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–6 monthsSet[kasar-gi]Age in cold stores
Temperature2–8 °CSet[kasar-gi]Age in cold stores
AciditypH 5–5.2Set[kasar-gi]Sour the curd (teleme)

What makes this one different

Kars kaşarı is made only from summer pasture milk and scalded in hot salted water ('wet scalding'), not dry-heated, and is kneaded and moulded by hand. Its pre-ripening takes place in rooms exposed to the north wind (karayel).

Salt
2.3–3.1 g NaCl per 100 g at 3 days, rising to 3.4–3.5 g at 180 days
Dry matter
54.5–58 g per 100 g at 3 days, 60–63.5 g at 180 days
Fresh and aged
Sold as fresh (taze) up to day 90 and as aged (eski) after; aged kaşar must ripen at least 90 days

Related ferments

Safety

The curd is scalded at 72–78 °C, and the cheese is kept in cold stores at 2–8 °C. The milk is warmed only to 32–35 °C for renneting, so the hot scald is the main heat step. In a thesis on cheese from five Kars dairies, coliforms turned up only on day 1 in one dairy's cheeses, and none of the cheeses held E. coli or coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus.

Hazards the sources name: Coliform bacteria, found only on day 1 in the cheeses of one of five Kars dairies; E. coli and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus were found in none.

History and sources

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

The registration dates the first Kars kaşar to 1926 at Kümbetli village; between 1927 and 1933 more than 40 kaşar workshops opened. It was registered as a designation of origin, applied for by Kafkas University, with protection from 14 February 2014.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [kasar-gi] Coğrafi işaret tescil No. 190, 'Kars Kaşarı' (menşe adı) under Decree-Law 555, applicant Kafkas Üniversitesi, announced in Resmî Gazete 29292, 11.3.2015 (copy published by the Kars provincial directorate of agriculture)spec
  2. [oguz2024] Oğuz Ş., Andiç S. 2024, Isolation, identification, and characterization of thermophilic lactic acid bacteria isolated from whey of Kars Kashar cheeses, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 117(1):85 (abstract)paper
  3. [aydemir2010] Aydemir O. 2010, Kars Kaşar Peynirinin Karakterizasyonu (Characterisation of Kars kaşar cheese), thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü (abstract)paper