White brined cheeses

Cheeses ripened and kept in brine, like feta and sirene.

33 entries listed here.

How these cheeses are made

The shared make of white brined cheese family (feta pdo as template). Each cheese below says what it does differently.

Set the milk with rennet40–50 min · 32–35 °C
Cut, mould and drain18–24 h · 16–18 °C
Salt the surface dry24 h · 2.5 % salt
Ripen warm under brine15 days · 18 °C · 7–16 % salt
Mature cold under brineat least 2 months · 2–4 °C

Compare them

Cheese	Region	Milk	Ripening	Rind
Batzos PDO	Greece, Thessaly and Western and Central Macedonia	Sheep, goat or mixed milk	At least 3 months in 10–12% brine
Beli sir (Serbian and Bosnian white brined cheese)	Western Balkans, especially the mountain villages of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina	Cow, sheep or goat milk; raw in village cheese	One to two months in brine at about 14–16 °C
Beyaz peynir	Turkey	Cow milk in the studies cited; the cheese is also made from other milks	At least three weeks for fresh classic cheese; up to six months for Ezine-type cheese
Brînză de Popeasca	Moldova, Ștefan Vodă and Căușeni districts		at least 30 days
Brynza (Russia, Ukraine, Moldova)	Russia, Ukraine and Moldova	Cow, sheep or goat milk; the standard lists all three	Released for sale at not less than 5 days old
Domiati	Egypt	Cow or buffalo milk	Fresh, or pickled about 2–3 months in its own salty whey
Feta PDO	Greece	Ewe milk, or ewe plus goat milk with goat at most 30%, from the named Greek regions	Up to 15 days at up to 18 °C, RH 85% or more, then at 2–4 °C, for at least 2 months in all
Halitzia Tillirias	Cyprus, Tilliria		at least 40 days	None; pure white chunks with irregular holes
Jibne baladi	Lebanon and the wider Levant	Cow milk (the study used pasteurised cow milk)	None; eaten fresh
Kobi	Georgia, Mtskheta-Mtianeti		at least 2 months	No crust on the round top
Lighvan	Iran, East Azerbaijan province	Raw sheep milk, sometimes with some goat milk; no starter	At least 90 days in 10–12% brine in cold rooms
Pljevaljski sir	Montenegro, Pljevlja municipality		at least 15 days	None; sold as slices
Telemea de Sibiu	Romania, Sibiu county	Sheep milk, raw, freshly milked, unpasteurised; sheep graze 200–230 days a year	6–12 months
Casu axedu	Italy, Sardegna		24 h	None; white, smooth surface
Formaggio Asìno	Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia		20 days	Classico clean; morbido none
Bulgarian sirene	Bulgaria	sheep/cow/goat/buffalo milk	≥45–60 d
Chanakh	Armenia	sheep/cow milk
Cherni Vit green cheese	Teteven, Bulgaria	sheep milk	months
Ezine peyniri (GI)	Çanakkale	sheep/goat/cow milk, mixed	≥6 mo (typical)
Gibna beida (Sudan)	Sudan	cow milk	months in tins
Homoljski sir (ovčiji, kozji, kravlji)	Serbia, Homolje	Raw cow, sheep or goat milk, registered as three separate geographical indications	In brine, usually 1–3 months
Imeruli	Imereti	cow milk	2–3 d
Kalathaki Limnou PDO	Lemnos	sheep milk, (+G)
Lori cheese	Lori, Armenia	cow milk
Otlu peynir (Van herb cheese)	Van/Bitlis	sheep milk, (+C)	≥3 mo
Sepet peyniri	Aegean	sheep/goat milk
Sfela PDO	Messinia/Laconia	sheep/goat milk	≥3 mo
Sjenički sir PDO	Sjenica, Serbia	sheep/cow milk
Teleme (California)	California	cow milk
Telemea de Ibănești PDO	Mureș	cow milk
Telemes	Greece/Turkey	cow/mixed milk
Travnički / Vlašićki sir	Bosnia	sheep/cow milk	≥1 mo
Zlatarski sir PDO	Zlatibor	cow milk

Bold names have a full page with the animated steps. Blank cells: no sourced value yet.

Short entries

What the sources record about each of these so far.

Bulgarian sireneBulgaria

Bulgarian white brined

Milk: sheep/cow/goat/buffalo milk
Ripening: ≥45–60 d

Made like White brined cheese family (Feta PDO as template).

ChanakhArmenia

clay-jar brined

Milk: sheep/cow milk

Made like White brined cheese family (Feta PDO as template).

Cherni Vit green cheeseTeteven, Bulgaria

brined sheep cheese in wooden vessels that grows a green Penicillium crust in cellar

Milk: sheep milk
Ripening: months

Made like White brined cheese family (Feta PDO as template).

Ezine peyniri (GI)Çanakkale

long tin ripening

Milk: sheep/goat/cow milk, mixed
Ripening: ≥6 mo (typical)

Made like White brined cheese family (Feta PDO as template).

Gibna beida (Sudan)Sudan

Sudanese white brined

Milk: cow milk
Ripening: months in tins

Made like White brined cheese family (Feta PDO as template).

Homoljski sir (ovčiji, kozji, kravlji)Serbia, Homolje

Also called Homoljski ovčiji sir, Homoljski kozji sir, Homoljski kravlji sir, Homolje cheese, Homolje white cheese.

Homolje cheese is a white cheese ripened in brine, made on farms from raw cow, sheep or goat milk with no starter culture. It belongs to the Serbian "krishka" (slice) cheeses named after their region; each maker presses and salts in an own way, and the cheese ripens in brine for one to three months.

Milk: Raw cow, sheep or goat milk, registered as three separate geographical indications
Ripening: In brine, usually 1–3 months
Composition: Two-month-old cow cheese: dry matter 59.09 %, fat 31.25 %, fat in dry matter 52.89 %, NaCl 5.43 %, pH 4.71. Sheep cheese: dry matter 57.49 %, fat 30.50 %, NaCl 6.49 %, pH 5.18

Collect the raw milk
Make, press and salt the curd
Ripen in brine30 days – 3 months · 5.4 % salt

Safety: Made from raw milk with no starter. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

ImeruliImereti

unheated curd brined