🧀 Erzincan Tulum Peyniri

Erzincan Tulum Peyniri is a Turkish semi-hard cheese made from raw sheep's milk in Erzincan province in eastern Anatolia. It is the best-known kind of tulum cheese; the name is protected in the EU as a PDO (eAmbrosia file PDO-TR-03056).

The specification requires at least 95% raw milk from the local Akkaraman sheep breed; up to 5% goat's milk may be added. In summer the sheep graze high mountain pastures rich in wild plants.

The milk is set with rennet, the curd is drained, crumbled, salted and packed tightly into bags of sheep- or goatskin (tulum) or into plastic drums, where it ripens in cool rooms. The finished cheese is white to cream, full-fat, even and slightly crumbly, with a rich, salty taste and a clear sheep's milk aroma.

On this site it is a kind of tulum and part of the semi-hard cheeses. Another protected Turkish cheese is Ezine Peyniri.

How to eat it: at breakfast with bread, olives and tomatoes, in börek pastries and bakes, or with watermelon in summer. Drink ideas are on Wine and cheese.

Why it matters to you: only cheese from the defined area made from Akkaraman sheep's milk to the PDO specification may be sold as Erzincan Tulum Peyniri.