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Cheese from Turkey, Marmara region

Mihaliç peyniriMihaliç

A salty, semi-hard Turkish cheese with small round eyes, traditionally made from raw milk without starter. In a study following the traditional method, the curd was cut to about 1 cm, scalded with hot water to 40 or 45 °C, drained in cloth, pressed, then held warm in 12 % brine for 6 days until eyes formed and in 15 % brine at 6 °C for 10 days before ripening cold.

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts and steps are from a lab study that followed the traditional method on cow milk, some of it pasteurised with added starter; artisanal makers use raw milk and no starter.
Raw milk, a mixture of sheep and cow milk in artisanal cheese[ayanoglu2026]
Liquid rennet, enough to set the milk within 60 minutes[ozer2019]
Hot water at 70–80 °C, poured into the curd to scald it[ozer2019]
Brine12 %, then 15 %[ozer2019]
Starternone traditionally; the raw milk's own flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.6 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactococcus lactis

What changes: Rennet sets the raw milk within an hour

Step 1 of 8
Set with rennet
Time
up to 1 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
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

A salty, semi-hard Turkish cheese with small round eyes, traditionally made from raw milk without starter. In a study following the traditional method, the curd was cut to about 1 cm, scalded with hot water to 40 or 45 °C, drained in cloth, pressed, then held warm in 12 % brine for 6 days until eyes formed and in 15 % brine at 6 °C for 10 days before ripening cold. Made in 8 steps over 3.6 months. The longest step, ripen cold, takes 3 months (Özer E 2019) and runs at 3–5 °C (Özer E 2019). Salt is 12 % (Özer E 2019). Propionic acid bacteria, the main flora, whose fermentation of lactate gives the 3–4 mm eyes and Lactococcus lactis, the main isolate on M17 medium (43.7 %) in artisanal cheeses do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3 monthsReported[ozer2019]Ripen cold
Temperature3–5 °CReported[ozer2019]Ripen cold
Salt12 %Reported[ozer2019]Warm brine until the eyes form

What makes this one different

Its eyes come from propionic bacteria; the curd is scalded with hot water and held warm in brine until the eyes form.

Milk
Raw sheep and cow milk in artisanal cheese; no starter
Eyes
Round eyes of 3–4 mm from propionic fermentation

Related ferments

Variants

  • Savaştepe Mihaliç Kelle Peyniri (Balıkesir)Registered cheese of Savaştepe district. Made from sheep and cow milk (at least 40 % sheep milk in the mix) or cow milk alone. The curd is hung in cloth and pierced with skewers to take the "kelle" shape, pressed 12–16 h, rested dry at 10–12 °C for at least a week, held 5–10 days in 14–16 Baumé brine to open the eyes (10 mm at most), then ripened at least 120 days in brine at 4 °C.

Safety

Traditional cheese is made from raw milk without starter. The study cited used pasteurised milk with starters for all but its control cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones, and this curd is scalded only to 40–45 °C.

History and sources

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

Özer and Kesenkaş describe Mihaliç as made for about 250 years and one of the oldest traditional cheeses of Turkey. On 10 July 2023 TÜRKPATENT registered Savaştepe Mihaliç Kelle Peyniri (No. 1405, applied for 29 November 2022 by Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality) as a mahreç işareti, a geographical indication of origin, for the cheese of Savaştepe district.

  1. [ozer2019] Özer E, Kesenkaş H 2019, The effect of using different starter culture combinations on ripening parameters, microbiological and sensory properties of Mihaliç cheese, Journal of Food Science and Technology 56(3):1202-1211paper
  2. [ayanoglu2026] Ayanoğlu E, Tavşanlı H, Cibik R 2026, Identification of lactic acid bacteria from the crust and inner part of artisanally produced Mihaliç cheese sold with salty and low salty label, Food Science & Nutrition 14(2):e71489 (abstract)paper
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov
  4. [turkpatent1405] TÜRKPATENT 2023, Savaştepe Mihaliç Kelle Peyniri, geographical indication registration No. 1405 (mahreç işareti), applicant Balıkesir Büyükşehir Belediyesispec