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Cheese from Greece

Telemes

A Greek white cheese ripened in brine, made in the studies cited here from pasteurised whole cow milk with thermophilic or mesophilic starter. After 24 hours of fermentation the curd's pH is about 4.8–5.1; the salted cheese is held at 16 °C until the pH falls to 4.60, then moved to 4 °C. Commercial-style trials ripen it 2 months and store it 4 more.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe studies made it 'according to standard procedures' and do not list doses in their abstracts.
Pasteurised whole cow milk[govaris2002]
Thermophilic or mesophilic starter culture[govaris2002]
Salt, then brine for ripening and storage[govaris2002][govaris2001]
Starterthermophilic or mesophilic starter culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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What changes: Starter culture goes into pasteurised cow milk and the milk sets

Step 1 of 4
Inoculate and set the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Pasteurised whole cow milk is given a thermophilic or mesophilic starter and made into curd by the standard method.

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 Greek white cheese ripened in brine, made in the studies cited here from pasteurised whole cow milk with thermophilic or mesophilic starter. After 24 hours of fermentation the curd's pH is about 4.8–5.1; the salted cheese is held at 16 °C until the pH falls to 4.60, then moved to 4 °C. Commercial-style trials ripen it 2 months and store it 4 more. Made in 4 steps over 2 months. The longest step, cold-ripen and store in brine, takes 2 months (Govaris A 2001) and runs at 4 °C (Govaris A 2002).

Key numbers
Main step2 monthsReported[govaris2001]Cold-ripen and store in brine
Temperature4 °CReported[govaris2002]Cold-ripen and store in brine
AciditypH 4.6Reported[govaris2002]Salt and warm-ripen

What makes this one different

Made like feta and ripened the same way, warm until pH 4.6 and then cold, but from cow milk in the studies cited, where feta must be made from sheep milk with up to 30 % goat milk.

Milk
A Greek white brined cheese made from sheep, goat or cow milk, or mixtures of them (a 2023 study of non-PDO Greek cheeses bought on the Greek market)
Brining
The review describes Teleme as made from non-pasteurised milk with commercial yoghurt starters, the pressed curd going into 18 % (w/v) salt brine for 20 hours
Storage
Ripened 2 months and stored 4 more months in the aflatoxin trial

Related ferments

Safety

In a challenge trial that added E. coli O157:H7 to pasteurised milk with starter, it grew during the first 10 hours of cheesemaking but declined during ripening and was not detected after 30–40 days. That trial does not cover the non-pasteurised Teleme a 2020 review describes. In a trial with milk spiked with aflatoxin M1, the curd held 3.9–4.4 times the milk level, and the cheese still held 2.7–3.4 times the milk level after six months.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157:H7, which grew in the first 10 hours of cheesemaking in a challenge trial and was no longer detected after 30–40 days of ripening; Aflatoxin M1 from the milk, 3.9–4.4 times the milk level in the curd and still 2.7–3.4 times after six months in a trial with spiked milk.

History and sources

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

The US Department of Agriculture's Bulletin 608 (first issued 1918) lists Teleme, also called Branza de Braila, as a Rumanian cheese made from sheep's milk and kept in brine. Its 1953 Handbook 54 says Teleme is made from goat's or ewe's milk in Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey and is very like Greek feta.

  1. [govaris2002] Govaris A., Papageorgiou D.K., Papatheodorou K. 2002, Behavior of Escherichia coli O157:H7 during the manufacture and ripening of feta and telemes cheeses, Journal of Food Protection 65(4):609–615, doi:10.4315/0362-028x-65.4.609 (abstract)paper
  2. [govaris2001] Govaris A., Roussi V., Koidis P.A., Botsoglou N.A. 2001, Distribution and stability of aflatoxin M1 during processing, ripening and storage of Telemes cheese, Food Additives and Contaminants 18:437–443, doi:10.1080/02652030120550 (abstract)paper
  3. [pappa2023] Pappa E.C., Kondyli E., Pappas A.C., Giamouri E., Sarri A., Mavrommatis A., Zoidis E., Papalamprou L., Simitzis P., Goliomytis M., Tsiplakou E., Georgiou C.A. 2023, Compositional Differences of Greek Cheeses of Limited Production, Foods 12(12):2426paper
  4. [geronikou2020] Geronikou A., Srimahaeak T., Rantsiou K., Triantafillidis G., Larsen N., Jespersen L. 2020, Occurrence of Yeasts in White-Brined Cheeses, Methodologies for Identification, Spoilage Potential and Good Manufacturing Practices, Frontiers in Microbiology 11:582778 (review)paper
  5. [usda608] Doane C.F. and Lawson H.W., Varieties of cheese, descriptions and analyses, US Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 608 (first issued 1918; the copy read is a revised edition), entry 'Teleme'archive
  6. [usda-hb54] Sanders G.P. 1953, Cheese varieties and descriptions, US Department of Agriculture Agriculture Handbook No. 54 (entry 'Teleme')gov