Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Türkiye, Erzincan province

Erzincan Tulum Peyniri PDOErzincan Tulum Peyniri

Raw milk of Akkaraman sheep is set with traditional abomasum rennet, drained in bags for about 10 days, then crumbled, salted with 2–2.5% Kemah spring salt and drained again. The curd is pressed tightly into sheep or goat skins or food-grade containers and ripened at −2 to 0 °C for at least 4 months, giving a crumbly, sharp, tongue-biting cheese.

Fully documentedCheese4.7 monthsDesignation of origin (TÜRKPATENT No 30, 2001); PDO (EU, Implementing Regulation 2025/1013)Family: Skin- and pot-ripened cheese family (Tulum, Çömlek)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe registration gives doses per 100 L of milk; 4–5 L of milk make 1 kg of cheese.
Raw milk of Akkaraman sheep, milked between the fourth and ninth month4–5 L per 1 kg of cheeseAt least 95% Akkaraman milk; up to 5% Morkaraman sheep or goat milk[erz-tp][erz-sd2025]
Abomasum rennet1–3 L per 100 L of milkMade by steeping 6–7 dried lamb abomasa or 3–4 calf abomasa in about 25–30 L of whey for 1 week[erz-tp]
Kemah spring salt from Erzincan2–2.5% of the crumbled curd[erz-tp][erz-sd2025]

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.7 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Raw sheep milk is strained and rests in the cauldron

Step 1 of 7
Filter and rest the milk
Time
2 h
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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 milk of Akkaraman sheep is set with traditional abomasum rennet, drained in bags for about 10 days, then crumbled, salted with 2–2.5% Kemah spring salt and drained again. The curd is pressed tightly into sheep or goat skins or food-grade containers and ripened at −2 to 0 °C for at least 4 months, giving a crumbly, sharp, tongue-biting cheese. Made in 7 steps over 4.7 months. The longest step, ripen cold, takes at least 4 months (TÜRKPATENT 2021) and runs at -2–0 °C (TÜRKPATENT 2021). Salt is 2–2.5 % (TÜRKPATENT 2021).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 4 monthsSet[erz-tp][erz-sd2025]Ripen cold
Temperature-2–0 °CSet[erz-tp]Ripen cold
Salt2–2.5 %Set[erz-tp]Crumble and salt
AciditypH 4.7–5.4Set[erz-sd2025]Ripen cold

What makes this one different

Made from Akkaraman sheep milk with traditional abomasum rennet and Kemah spring salt, the curd is broken and salted at least twice, which gives the crumbly texture, and it ripens in the cold rather than in a cave.

Milk
Raw milk of Akkaraman sheep fed in the province, at least 95%
Ripening
At least 4 months at −2 to 0 °C
Composition
Dry matter at least 55%, moisture at most 45%, fat in dry matter at least 45%, salt in dry matter at most 5%, acidity at most 2% as lactic acid

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw, and the specification sets a ripening time of at least 4 months because of it. One trial made Erzincan tulum from raw sheep milk, plain and with added black cumin, and ripened it 90 days at 4 °C. S. aureus stayed below 2 log cfu/g, and coliforms in the plain cheese fell from 3.7 to 2.2 log cfu/g. It did not test for Listeria, Salmonella or E. coli. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in certain cheeses during ageing. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid cheese made with raw milk unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus, below 2 log cfu/g in all the raw sheep milk tulum cheeses studied; Coliforms, whose counts fell during ripening.

History and sources

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

Registered in Türkiye as a designation of origin in 2001 and amended in 2021; the EU registered it as a PDO in 2025. The single document describes it as a cheese of semi-nomadic tribes.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [erz-tp] TÜRKPATENT, Coğrafi işaret tescil belgesi No 30, 'Erzincan Tulum Peyniri' (menşe adı), Erzincan Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası; amendment published in Bulletin No 111, 15.10.2021spec
  2. [erz-sd2025] European Commission, Publication of an application for registration, single document 'Erzincan Tulum Peyniri' PDO-TR-03056, Official Journal of the European Union C/2025/500, 24.1.2025spec
  3. [erz-reg2025] European Commission, eAmbrosia register record 'Erzincan Tulum Peyniri' (PDO-TR-03056), registered by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1013, Official Journal L, 27.5.2025spec
  4. [cakir2018] Çakır Y., Çakmakçı S. 2018, Some microbiological, physicochemical and ripening properties of Erzincan Tulum cheese produced with added black cumin (Nigella sativa L.), Journal of Food Science and Technology 55(4):1435–1443 (abstract)paper
  5. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  6. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov