The Traditional Cheeses of Turkey: Cheeses Common to All Regions

The production of many of our foodstuffs relies upon age-old practices and traditions. One such foodstuff is cheese, a dairy product, which forms part of mankind's ancient cultural heritage. There are thought to be more than 1400 varieties of cheese worldwide. The aim of this review was to bring together from amongst this tremendous diversity of cheese, those varieties which are produced by traditional methods and are found throughout Turkey. Six such varieties of cheese were identified in Turkey, none of which was specific to a single region and each of which was distinctive from the rest, namely: White Cheese, Kashar Cheese, Çökelek Cheese, Lor Cheese, Tulum Cheese, and Teleme Cheese. In this article, the methods of production, physical structure, appearance, and some chemical and microbiological characteristics of these cheeses are discussed.