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Cheese from Croatia, Međimurje County

Turoš

Raw cow milk is left to sour on its own for two days at about 27 °C, the sour cream is skimmed off, and the skimmed sour milk is warmed at 42 °C for 3 hours until the curd separates. The curd drains 24 hours in cloth, is mixed with salt and red paprika, shaped by hand into cones and dried for 7 days.

Recipe

Turoš, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Silverije, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceValkaj et al. describe farm batches soured in a 2.5–5 litre jar (traditionally a 2–3 litre clay pot). The salt and pepper amounts are per 1000 g of fresh cheese, after Tišlarić (1992).
Raw cow milk, no starter added[valkaj2014]
Salt20 g per 1000 g fresh cheese[valkaj2014]
Dry red pepper (paprika)10 g per 1000 g fresh cheese[valkaj2014]
Starternone; the raw milk sours on its own

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days

Start
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27 °CpH up to 4.6Milk sugarLactic acid

What changes: Over two days the raw milk, with no starter, sours to below pH 4.6

Step 1 of 7
Sour the milk
Time
2 days
Reported
Temperature
27 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH up to 4.6
Reported
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 cow milk is left to sour on its own for two days at about 27 °C, the sour cream is skimmed off, and the skimmed sour milk is warmed at 42 °C for 3 hours until the curd separates. The curd drains 24 hours in cloth, is mixed with salt and red paprika, shaped by hand into cones and dried for 7 days. Made in 7 steps over 10 days. The longest step, dry, takes 7 days (Valkaj K 2014) and runs at 19–22 °C (Valkaj K 2014). Salt is 3.8 % (Valkaj K 2014).

Key numbers
Main step7 daysReported[valkaj2014]Dry
Temperature19–22 °CReported[valkaj2014]Dry
Salt3.8 %Measured[valkaj2014]Dry
AciditypH 4.5Measured[valkaj2014]Dry

What makes this one different

Farm Turoš sours on its own in two days and is skimmed, so it is leaner and saltier than the dairy-made kind; in a blind test 97% of 200 local consumers could tell it from the neighbouring Prgica and Kvargl.

Composition
Farm cheeses (n=15), mean: fat 14.90, protein 28.80 and total solids 57.28 g per 100 g; semi-hard
Industrial Turoš
Made from pasteurised milk with starter cultures and a tenth of the usual rennet dose, which sours it in seventeen hours; fattier (25.00–37.75 g/100 g) and less salty (1.85–2.67%)

Related ferments

Safety

The milk sours below pH 4.6, and the finished cones measured pH 4.45 with about 3.8% salt. In a second study by the same group, microbiological analysis showed all the analysed Turoš cheeses met the hygiene requirement; that covers those samples, not every batch. The milk is raw, no starter is added and the sour milk is warmed only to 42 °C. The CDC says raw-milk products can expose people to germs such as Listeria, E. coli, Brucella and Salmonella, so neither the souring nor that result makes a home batch safe.

History and sources

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

Valkaj et al. record Turoš on family farms in Međimurje and among the Pomurje Croats of Zala County in Hungary, citing Kerecsényi (1983) and Andrić et al. (2003).

  1. [valkaj2014] Valkaj K., Zimmermann B., Kalit S., Rako A., Baranović G. 2014, Suitability of the infrared spectroscopy and the rheological method for distinguishing traditional cheese from industrial Turoš cheese, Mljekarstvo 64(2):94-101 (FULIR repository copy)paper
  2. [valkaj2014b] Valkaj K., Kalit S., Salajpal K., Zubović M., Marković T. 2014, Chemical and Microbiological Characterization of Turoš Cheese (abstract, copy held by BH akademski imenik)paper
  3. [valkaj2013] Valkaj K., Cerjak M., Kalit S., Rako A., Wendorff W.L. 2013, Do consumers from Međimurje region recognize their autochthonous Turoš cheese?, Mljekarstvo 63(4):211-219 (abstract)paper
  4. [wp] Wikipedia, Turošwiki
  5. [cdc-raw-milk] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Raw Milk (food safety page)gov