🧀 Ezine Peyniri

Ezine Peyniri is a Turkish white cheese made from a mixture of sheep's, goat's and cows' milk and matured in brine for at least eight months. It is protected in the EU as a PDO (eAmbrosia file PDO-TR-02889, protected since 5 January 2023).

Depending on the season, 35-45% sheep's milk is mixed with at least 40% goat's milk and at most 25% cows' milk; mainly milk collected from March to July is used. The animals are fed only on fodder from the area: pasture in spring and summer, hay from the area's pastures in winter, no concentrated feed, with an average grazing season of at least eight months a year. The flora includes sweet marjoram, wild marjoram, sage, horse mint, lemon balm and thyme. The cheese is made with animal rennet from the abomasum, without starter culture, and only sea salt is used.

It is white to light yellow, semi-hard or firm, with small holes and without a rind. The aroma is buttery and of cooked milk; the taste is mild-sweet, salty and sour. The specification sets minimum fat in dry matter at 49%, dry matter at 43% and salt in dry matter at 6%.

All steps, from pasturage and milk production to maturing, must take place in the defined area of Çanakkale Province: the districts of Ezine, Bayramiç and Ayvacık, six villages of the Çan district and four villages of the Merkez district, between the Kaz Mountains and the Aegean Sea. The packaging must carry the Ezine Peyniri logo.