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Cheese from Türkiye

Lor

Lor is made by heating the whey left over from cheese-making, for example kaşar whey, until its proteins clot and float, at about 90 °C for a few minutes in one dairy. The curd is skimmed off, drained briefly, lightly salted and sold fresh, kept cold. Heat sets it, so it is a boundary entry.

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceDairy practice with no fixed recipe; the studies used 0.1 % and 1 % salt, and one also made unsalted lor.
Whey, for example from kaşar making[unal2024]
Cream to standardise fat, and milk to raise the yield (allowed)Whey proteins must stay at least 75 % of the total protein[tgk-peynir]
Salt0.1 % in one dairy; 1 % in a salted lor study[unal2024][irkin2017]
Starternone to set the curd; heat sets it

Total time across the recorded steps: 20 min

Start
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What changes: Whey from cheese-making is gathered in a kettle

Step 1 of 5
Collect the whey
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Most Turkish whey goes into lor; cream or milk may be added, but whey proteins must make up at least 75 % of the protein.

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

Lor is made by heating the whey left over from cheese-making, for example kaşar whey, until its proteins clot and float, at about 90 °C for a few minutes in one dairy. The curd is skimmed off, drained briefly, lightly salted and sold fresh, kept cold. Heat sets it, so it is a boundary entry. Made in 5 steps over 20 min. The longest step, drain and press, takes 15 min (Ünal G 2024). Salt is 0.1 % (Ünal G 2024).

Key numbers
Main step15 minReported[unal2024]Drain and press
Temperature90 °CReported[unal2024]Heat until the whey proteins clot
Salt0.1 %Reported[unal2024]Salt and skim off the curd

What makes this one different

Lor is a heat-set cheese made from the whey of other cheeses, such as kaşar. It is sold fresh and kept cold, unlike the salted, dried or aged forms of some other whey cheeses.

Use of whey
Most of the whey produced in Turkey is used for lor, and the method varies with region and consumption habits (Ünal et al. 2024)
Protein rule
Whey proteins at least 75 % of total protein (Turkish Food Codex cheese communiqué)

Related ferments

Safety

Lor is a fresh, moist cheese whose surface can grow mould in storage, so keep it at 4 °C. A 2024 paper says the shelf life of fresh whey cheese is less than 7 days; modified-atmosphere packs keep it longer.

History and sources

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

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [unal2024] Ünal G., Akyıl D.E., Akalın A.S. 2024, Evaluation of the Functional and Sensory Properties of Probiotic Whey Cheese with Herbs in Vacuum or Modified Atmosphere Packaging, Food Technology and Biotechnology 62(2)paper
  2. [irkin2017] Irkin R., Yalcin O. 2017, The potential use of probiotic strains Lactobacillus acidophilus NRRL B 4495, Bifidobacterium bifidum NRRL B41410 in Lor Whey Cheese and the effects on sensory properties, Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria 16(2):181–189 (abstract)paper
  3. [urgu2022] Urgu-Ozturk M. 2022, Possibilities of using the continuous type of UV light on the surface of lor (whey) cheese, impacts on mould growth, oxidative stability, sensory and colour attributes during storage, Journal of Dairy Research (abstract)paper
  4. [tgk-peynir] Zonguldak Provincial Directorate of Agriculture 2015, announcement of the Türk Gıda Kodeksi Peynir Tebliği (Resmî Gazete 29261, 8.2.2015), rule on whey cheesesgov