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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the former Soviet Union

Tvorogтворог

Tvorog is a fresh acid curd made by souring pasteurised milk with lactic bacteria at about 28–32 °C until it sets, sometimes helped by a little rennet. The curd is cut, warmed to push out whey, drained in bags and pressed, then chilled. In Russia it is a dairy product of its own, not counted as a cheese. Made in 6 steps over 7.3 h – 18 h. The longest step, sour until the milk sets, takes 6–12 h (Goryachevskikh A.V. (reviewer Minukhin L.A.)…). Lactococcus, dominant in tvorog made from raw milk and Streptococcus, dominant in tvorog made from pasteurised milk do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6–12 hReported[goryachevskikh2022][strok-belstu]Sour until the milk sets
Temperature78–87 °CReported[goryachevskikh2022][strok-belstu]Pasteurise the milk
AciditypH 4–5.5Measured[kochetkova2022]Chill and pack

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts are per tonne of milk in Russian and Belarusian dairy practice. Home tvorog is soured milk drained in cloth, with no fixed amounts.
Skim or standardised cow milk · The acid method suits skim and low-fat tvorog best, because heating the curd loses fat[goryachevskikh2022]
Lactic starter or bacterial concentrate · Dose depends on the starter's activity; thermophilic streptococci and lactococci for fast souring[goryachevskikh2022]
400 g per tonne of milkCalcium chloride (as a 40 % solution) · Added when the curd would be too soft[goryachevskikh2022][strok-belstu]
1 g per tonne of milkRennet, pepsin or another enzyme preparation · Acid-rennet method only[strok-belstu]
Starterdefined-culture (lactic starter or bacterial concentrate) | backslop or spontaneous at home

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.3 h – 18 h

Start
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78–87 °C

What changes: The milk is pasteurised at 78–87 °C

Step 1 of 6
Pasteurise the milk
Time
0.2–0.5 min
Reported
Temperature
78–87 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus
Streptococcus
Lactobacilli
L. casei
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: pasteurised milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

heat kills most milk bacteria

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

What makes this one different

Tvorog is set mainly by lactic acid, with little or no rennet. The cut curd is warmed to push out whey, then drained in bags and pressed, which can leave it crumbly. In Russia it is graded by fat content as a dairy product of its own, not as a cheese.

Milk
Pasteurised cow milk, skimmed or standardised
Ripening
None; eaten fresh
Fat classes
Fat-free, low-fat (2.0–3.8 %), classic (4.0–12.0 %) and fat (12.0–23.0 %)
Acidity limit for 9 % tvorog
At most 220 °T and at most 73.0 % moisture under GOST 31453-2013, as quoted in a market survey

Related ferments

Variants

  • Acid-rennet tvorogA little rennet or pepsin is added with the starter, and the curd is warmed only to 36–38 °C.
  • Grained tvorog (zernisty)Low-fat grained curd, sold as its own type.
  • Homemade Azerbaijani tvorogVillage curd made with lactobacilli including L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus and L. casei.

Safety

Industrial tvorog is made from pasteurised milk and is chilled right after pressing to stop souring. Tvorog made from raw milk at home carries a different, Lactococcus-led flora.

History and sources

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

In modern Russian usage tvorog is not counted as a cheese (Kochetkova et al. 2022).

  1. [goryachevskikh2022] Goryachevskikh A.V. (reviewer Minukhin L.A.), Tekhnologiya proizvodstva tvoroga kislotnym sposobom i ego oborudovanie (Technology of tvorog production by the acid method and its equipment), Ural State Agrarian University, student article in its 2022 issue 7 collectionother
  2. [strok-belstu] Strok D.V., Starovoitov M.S. (supervisor Ankuda M.A.), Modernisation of milk processing for tvorog making, Belarusian State Technological University student paper, p. 246 (year not printed)other
  3. [siemianowski2013] Siemianowski K., Szpendowski J., Bohdziewicz K. et al. 2013, Effect of dry matter content in milk on souring dynamics and quality parameters of tvorog curd, Żywność. Nauka. Technologia. Jakość 1(86)paper
  4. [kochetkova2022] Kochetkova T.V. et al. 2022, Microbial communities of artisanal fermented milk products from Russia, Microorganisms 10(11):2140, doi:10.3390/microorganisms10112140paper
  5. [masoumikia2015] Masoumikia R., Ganbarov K. 2015, Antagonistic activity of probiotic lactobacilli against human enteropathogenic bacteria in homemade tvorog curd cheese from Azerbaijan, BioImpacts 5(3):151–154, doi:10.15171/bi.2015.21paper
  6. [mikhailova2025] Mikhailova P.V. (supervisor Fedorova N.B.) 2025, Monitoring the quality of fermented milk products of domestic producers, Proceedings of the 9th International Student Conference "V mire nauchnykh otkrytii", held in the Ulyanovsk State Agrarian University libraryother