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Cheese from Palestine

Nabulsiجبنة نابلسية

Nabulsi is a white brined cheese set with rennet, not soured by a culture. The curd is pressed, cut, salted and boiled in brine, then stored in brine. A Jordanian laboratory study that followed the traditional method boiled the salted blocks in 18 % brine for 15 minutes, and studies of its oxidation, composition and texture stored it in brine for 5 and 9 months.

Fully documentedCheese3.1 months – 9.1 monthsFamily: Whey-cooked rennet curd family (halloumi type)

Recipe

Nabulsi, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: رائد عزمي حموده, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceNo traditional amounts are given in the sources. The amounts and times here are from one Jordanian laboratory study that followed the traditional method but salted in brine (Abu-Alruz 2009); the 18 % brine also matches Ayyash 2011.
MilkCow, sheep or goat milk, or a mixture[wp]
Rennet[wp][abu2009]
Mahleb and masticTraditionally added to the boiling brine[wp]
Rennet powder0.011 g per litre of milk (microbial rennet powder in one study)[abu2009]
Salt18 % brine[ayyash2011][abu2009]
Starternone; the traditional raw milk is set with rennet and no starter culture is added (Abu-Alruz 2009)

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months – 9.1 months

Start
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37–38 °C

What changes: Rennet mixed into warm milk sets it into a curd in half an hour

Step 1 of 8
Warm the milk and add rennet
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
37–38 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

In the laboratory study the milk was raw cow, raw sheep or a 34 % cow and 66 % sheep blend (mashmouleh), set with microbial rennet at 0.011 g/L, with no starter culture. Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
white

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

Nabulsi is a white brined cheese set with rennet, not soured by a culture. The curd is pressed, cut, salted and boiled in brine, then stored in brine. A Jordanian laboratory study that followed the traditional method boiled the salted blocks in 18 % brine for 15 minutes, and studies of its oxidation, composition and texture stored it in brine for 5 and 9 months. Made in 8 steps over 3.1 months – 9.1 months. The longest step, store in brine, takes 3–9 months (Al-Ismail K.M 2003). Salt is 18 % (Abu-Alruz K 2009).

Key numbers
Main step3–9 monthsReported[alismail2003][ayyash2011]Store in brine
Temperature37–38 °CReported[abu2009]Warm the milk and add rennet
Salt18 %Reported[abu2009]Salt the blocks

What makes this one different

Nabulsi is boiled in brine after the curd is pressed, cut and salted, then stored in brine. One study followed its fat oxidation over 9 months in jars at room temperature.

Milk
Cow, sheep or goat milk, or a mixture
Storage
Two studies held it in brine for 5 and 9 months to follow its chemistry and texture; in one, total viable count rose after a month

Related ferments

Safety

In one study an in-container heat treatment of 115 °C for 2 min, in the absence of NaCl, eliminated mesophilic bacteria, coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus, yeasts and moulds for a year of storage. The study's abstract does not list Clostridium botulinum. Two minutes at 115 °C is below both the 120 °C and the 4 minutes that Japan's farm ministry (MAFF) gives to kill its spores, so it is not a way to can cheese at home. In closed jars, peroxide value and free fatty acids reached about the same level after 9 months in clear or light-protected jars, but 7-ketocholesterol was higher in clear jars. Cheese left on an open tray in air and light oxidised faster than cheese in closed jars.

Hazards the sources name: Mesophilic bacteria, coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus, yeasts and moulds; an in-container heat treatment of 115 °C for 2 min, in the absence of NaCl, eliminated them for a year of storage in one study.

History and sources

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

Abu-Alruz and colleagues (2009) call Nabulsi the main traditional cheese produced in Jordan by farmers, seasonal producers and the dairy industry, and link its name to the town of Nablus.

  1. [wp] Wikipedia, Nabulsi cheese (an outline; used for the region, milk, process and flavouring, not for numbers)wiki
  2. [abu2009] Abu-Alruz K., Mazahreh A.S., Quasem J.M., Hejazin R.K., El-Qudah J.M. 2009, Effect of proteases on meltability and stretchability of Nabulsi cheese, American Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences 4(3):173-178, doi:10.3844/ajabssp.2009.173.178 (full text read)paper
  3. [ayyash2011] Ayyash M.M., Shah N.P. 2011, The effect of substituting NaCl with KCl on Nabulsi cheese, chemical composition, total viable count, and texture profile, Journal of Dairy Science 94(6):2741–2751, doi:10.3168/jds.2010-3976 (abstract)paper
  4. [alismail2003] Al-Ismail K.M., Humeid M.A. 2003, Effect of processing and storage of brined white (Nabulsi) cheese on fat and cholesterol oxidation, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 83(1):39–43, doi:10.1002/jsfa.1278 (abstract)paper
  5. [aldabbas2014] Al-Dabbas M.M., Saleh M., Abu-Ghoush M.H., Al-Ismail K., Osaili T. 2014, Influence of storage, brine concentration and in-container heat treatment on the stability of white brined Nabulsi cheese, International Journal of Dairy Technology 67(3):427–436, doi:10.1111/1471-0307.12139 (abstract)paper
  6. [maff-boto] MAFF Japan, hazard profile, Clostridium botulinum (food poisoning cases and control measures)gov