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Fermentation Atlas

White brined cheeses

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

34 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.

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

Compare them

CheeseRegionMilkRipeningRind
Batzos PDOGreece, Thessaly and Western and Central MacedoniaSheep, goat or mixed milkAt least 3 months in 10–12% brine
Beli sir (Serbian white brined cheese)SerbiaCow, sheep or goat milk; raw in village cheeseOne to two months in brine at about 14–16 °C
Beyaz peynirTurkeyCow milk in the studies cited; the cheese is also made from other milksAt least three weeks for fresh classic cheese; up to six months for Ezine-type cheese
Brînză de PopeascaMoldova, Ștefan Vodă and Căușeni districtsat least 30 days
Brynza (Russia, Ukraine)Russia and UkraineCow, sheep or goat milk; the standard lists all threeReleased for sale at not less than 5 days old
Bulgarian white brined sirene (Bulgarsko byalo salamureno sirene PDO)BulgariaAt least 45 days (cow, goat) or 60 days (sheep, buffalo, mixed)
Casu axeduItaly, Sardegna36 h – 2 daysNone; white, smooth surface
DomiatiEgyptCow milk (raw in the 2023 study)Fresh, or pickled about 2–3 months in its own salty whey
Ezine Peyniri PDOTürkiye, Çanakkale ProvinceMixed milk; 35–45 % sheep, at least 40 % goat and at most 25 % cow, by seasonAt least 8 months in brine
Feta PDOGreeceEwe milk, or ewe plus goat milk with goat at most 30%, from the named Greek regionsUp to 15 days at up to 18 °C, RH 85% or more, then at 2–4 °C, for at least 2 months in all
Formaggio AsìnoItaly, Friuli Venezia Giuliaat least 20 days
Gibna bayda (Sudanese white cheese)Sudan6 h
Halitzia TilliriasCyprus, Tilliria regionat least 40 days
ImeruliGeorgia, ImeretiCow milk at least 3.6 % fat, acidity at most 20 °T; mixed milk at least 4.2 % fat, acidity at most 21 °T (table in the specification)3–4 h
Jibne baladiLebanonCow milk (the study used pasteurised cow milk)None; eaten fresh
Kalathaki Limnou PDOGreece, island of Lemnos3 weeks at 14–18 °C, then 6 °C to a total of 2 months
KobiGeorgia, Mtskheta-Mtianetiat least 2 monthsNo crust on the round top
LighvanIran, East Azerbaijan provinceRaw sheep milk, sometimes with some goat milk; no starterAt least 90 days in 10–12% brine in cold rooms
Otlu peynir (Van herb cheese)Türkiye, Van and Hakkari provinces4–7 months
Pljevaljski sirMontenegro, Pljevlja municipalityat least 15 days
Repovački sirBosnia and Herzegovina, KonjicRaw whole sheep milk, with up to 20 % raw cow milk; never standardised or heat-treatedat least 2 months
Sepet peyniri (Ayvalık kelle / sepet peyniri)Türkiye, Ayvalık and Burhaniye districts of Balıkesir ProvinceAt least 120 days in brine
Sfela PDOGreece, southern PeloponneseOne month in brine at room temperature, then at least three months at 4–6 °C
Sjenički sir (Sjenica cheese)Serbia, Sjenica–Pešter plateau30 days – 7 months
Telemea de Ibănești PDORomania, Mureș countyat least 20 days
Telemea de SibiuRomania, Sibiu countySheep milk, raw, freshly milked, unpasteurised; sheep graze 200–230 days a year21–30 days
TelemesGreeceA Greek white brined cheese made from sheep, goat or cow milk, or mixtures of them (a 2023 study of non-PDO Greek cheeses bought on the Greek market)2 months
Travnički / Vlašićki sirBosnia and Herzegovina, Vlašić mountain and the Travnik areaSheep, cow or goat milk, or a mixture, raw or pasteurisedAt least 30 days in whey or brine, then stored at 2–8 °C
Zlatarski sir (Zlatar cheese)Serbia — villages on Mount Zlatar, around Nova VarošRaw whole cow milk; about 90 % of the cattle are local Simmental-typeAt least 30 days under whey
Homoljski sir (ovčiji, kozji, kravlji)Serbia, HomoljeRaw cow or sheep milk with no starter; sheep, goat and cow cheese are registered as three separate geographical indicationsIn brine, usually 1–3 months
ChanakhArmeniaAged in brine
Cherni Vit green cheeseBulgaria, Cherni Vit villageSheep milk, sometimes mixed with goat milkIn brine in lime-wood barrels, up to two years
Lori cheeseArmenia
Teleme (California)United States, Californiaat least 20 days

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.

ChanakhArmenia

One of the two most popular Armenian cheeses, aged in brine like Lori; it is salty and spicy, holds together but is a little brittle, and is softer than Lori.

Ripening
Aged in brine

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

Cherni Vit green cheeseBulgaria, Cherni Vit village

Also called Zeleno sirene.

Sheep milk, sometimes mixed with goat milk, is set with rennet straight after milking, the curd is pressed in a cloth-lined wooden box, cut, salted and layered in lime-wood barrels in the mountains. In October the barrels go to village cellars; once a barrel is opened, moulds grow over the cheese in the damp air and can turn it green-blue inside. It can stay in its brine up to two years.

Milk
Sheep milk, sometimes mixed with goat milk
Ripening
In brine in lime-wood barrels, up to two years
  1. Set with rennet2 h
  2. Press in a wooden box2–4 h
  3. Salt and layer in lime-wood barrels
  4. Bring to the cellar
  5. Let the moulds growup to 2 years

Safety: The Slow Food record has the milk set with rennet straight after milking and mentions no heating, so treat it as a raw-milk cheese. CDC advises people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid any cheese made with unpasteurised milk.

Lori cheeseArmenia

A 2003 thesis calls Lori cheese one of the most popular national products in Armenia, affordable and available in many markets, and describes it as a soft cheese. No specification or dairy study of its make was found, so this entry has no steps of its own. A 2003 survey of Lori cheese sold in Yerevan's open-air markets found heavy contamination.

Type
A soft cheese, one of the most popular national products of Armenia (2003 thesis)

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

Safety: In 60 samples bought in Yerevan's open-air markets in September 2003, coliforms exceeded the USDA standard in 85 %, and E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes were each found in 2 samples; the author blamed farming, milking, handling and selling practice and called for better sanitary standards.

Teleme (California)United States, California

A soft, high-moisture California cow cheese that Giovanni Peluso re-made in 1927 as a ripened stracchino, inspired by a cheese called telemea. Young squares of curd rest a few days, are dusted with rice flour, wrapped in butcher paper and boxed, and mature about three weeks. The rice flour dries the rindless edges without turning gummy.

  1. Inoculate and set the milk
  2. Rest the curd squares
  3. Dust with rice flour
  4. Wrap and matureat least 20 days

Numbers come from cited sources and carry a label that says how each is known. How this atlas is made