Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Turkey, Hatay province

Sürk (Antakya sürkü)Antakya Sürkü

Cow milk is made into yoghurt, diluted with water and churned for butter; the leftover buttermilk is heated (to 90–95 °C in dairies, to boiling at home) so an acid-heat curd (çökelek) rises and is pressed in cloth for 5–6 hours. The curd is kneaded with salt, pepper paste and a spice mix led by wild thyme (zahter), shaped by hand into 150–200 g cones and dried 2–3 days. For the mould-ripened form, the cones are wrapped in paper and left in jars until mould covers them, 3–4 weeks.

Fully documentedCheese23 days – 31 daysTurkish geographical indications (mahreç işareti) No 330 (Antakya Sürkü, 2018) and No 359 (Antakya Küflü Sürkü, 2018)Family: Dried sour-milk curd family (qurut, aaruul, kashk, chhurpi)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourcePercentages are of the curd (çökelek) except the yoghurt culture, which is of the milk, from the Antakya Sürkü geographical indication.
Yoghurt culture, added to the boiled and cooled milk1–3 %[surk-gi]
Water, to make the yoghurt into ayran for churning1 kg water per 1 kg yoghurt[surk-gi]
Spice mix led by zahter (Thymbra spicata), with allspice, clove, mahaleb, cumin, black pepper and others0.1–0.3 % of the curd[surk-gi]
Salt1–3 %[surk-gi]
Pepper pasteabout 1 % (optional)[surk-gi]
Garlicone clove per kg of curd (optional)[surk-gi]
Starteryoghurt culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 23 days – 31 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countMouldsPenicilliumAspergillus niger40–45 °CMilk sugarLactic acid

What changes: Boiled milk with a little yoghurt culture sets into yoghurt

Step 1 of 7
Make yoghurt
Time
3–5 h
Set
Temperature
40–45 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Penicillium
Aspergillus niger

The yoghurt then rests one or more days in the refrigerator (4–7 °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

Cow milk is made into yoghurt, diluted with water and churned for butter; the leftover buttermilk is heated (to 90–95 °C in dairies, to boiling at home) so an acid-heat curd (çökelek) rises and is pressed in cloth for 5–6 hours. The curd is kneaded with salt, pepper paste and a spice mix led by wild thyme (zahter), shaped by hand into 150–200 g cones and dried 2–3 days. For the mould-ripened form, the cones are wrapped in paper and left in jars until mould covers them, 3–4 weeks. Made in 7 steps over 23 days – 31 days. The longest step, mould in jars (küflü sürk), takes 21–28 days (Türk Patent ve Marka Kurumu 2018). Salt is 1–3 % (Türk Patent ve Marka Kurumu 2018). Moulds that cover the jarred cones, led by Penicillium commune does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step21–28 daysSet[surk-mould-gi]Mould in jars (küflü sürk)
Temperature40–45 °CSet[surk-gi]Make yoghurt
Salt1–3 %Set[surk-gi]Knead with spices and shape

What makes this one different

Made from the curd of heated buttermilk left after churning yoghurt, so it holds both casein and whey proteins, and is seasoned above all with Hatay wild thyme (zahter); the jarred, mould-ripened form is scraped clean before eating.

Composition (fresh)
Dry matter 37.4 %, protein 22.0 %, fat 7.4 %, salt 3.5 %, pH 4.4, water activity 0.94 (registration averages)
Salt in shop samples
Average salt 8.08 % in 36 samples from local dairy shops, grouped as 3–6, 6–9 and over 9 %
Acidity in shop samples
Average pH 4.17 and titratable acidity 0.916 % in sürk from 36 dairy shops in Antakya
Size
Cone or pear shape, 150–200 g, 5–7 cm across the base

Related ferments

Variants

  • Antakya küflü sürküWrapped in paper and left in jars 3–4 weeks until mould covers it; the mould is scraped off before eating.

Safety

A survey of 120 retail sürk samples found aflatoxin M1 in 60 %, with 13.3 % above Turkey's limit of 250 ng/kg, so the milk's quality matters. In the mould-ripened form moulds, led by Penicillium commune, cover the cones. The registration has the mould scraped and washed off before eating and the cheese kept at refrigerator temperature, but WHO warns that such moulds can reach deep into food, and no source on this page tests this form for mould toxins. For fresh sürk the registration sets storage limits of at most 3 months vacuum-packed or in olive oil in the refrigerator, or 1 month in olive oil at room temperature. No source on this page tests those limits for safety.

Hazards the sources name: Aflatoxin M1, 16–1,043 ng/kg in 72 of 120 retail samples; 13.3 % of samples were above Turkey's 250 ng/kg limit.

History and sources

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

The registration describes sürk as a long-known product of the region whose making relies on local masters; 'sürk' is said to mean çökelek in Arabic.

  1. [surk-gi] Türk Patent ve Marka Kurumu, geographical indication No 330 'Antakya Sürkü (Antakya Çökeleği)', mahreç işareti, registered 26.02.2018 (applicant Antakya Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası)spec
  2. [surk-mould-gi] Türk Patent ve Marka Kurumu, geographical indication No 359 'Antakya Küflü Sürkü (Çökeleği)', mahreç işareti, registered 12.06.2018 (applicant Antakya Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası)spec
  3. [esen2022] Esen Y., Turgay Ö. 2022, The relationship between physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of Surk cheese, Journal of Food Science and Technology 59:4822–4832, doi:10.1007/s13197-022-05568-0 (abstract)paper
  4. [esen2021] Esen Y., Çetin B. 2021, Bacterial and yeast microbial diversity of the ripened traditional middle east surk cheese, International Dairy Journal 117:105004, doi:10.1016/j.idairyj.2021.105004 (abstract)paper
  5. [aygun2009] Aygun O., Essiz D., Durmaz H., Yarsan E., Altintas L. 2009, Aflatoxin M1 levels in Surk samples, a traditional Turkish cheese from southern Turkey, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 83:164–167, doi:10.1007/s00128-009-9765-x (abstract)paper
  6. [who2023] World Health Organization 2023, Mycotoxins, fact sheet (2 October 2023) (general safety text only)gov