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Erzincan Tulum Cheese

Even at the other end of the country, one of the first things that comes to mind at the name Erzincan is a cheese.

Radar TürkiyeRadar Türkiye4 Kasım 2026
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Erzincan Tulum Cheese

Even at the other end of the country, one of the first things that comes to mind at the name Erzincan is a cheese. Crumbled at the breakfast table and known for its colour between white and cream and its sharp aroma, Erzincan tulum cheese is the city's best known product. In this article we explain why the cheese can only be made on the high pastures of Erzincan, what rules its geographical indication registration lays down, what academic studies have found and how you can get to know this cheese when you come to the city. The information has been compiled from the registration document of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, from the pages of the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism and from research published by universities.

What is tulum cheese

The Turkish Food Codex defines tulum cheese as a cheese made by fermenting, salting and crumbling the curd obtained from milk coagulated with rennet and pressing it into food grade packaging or into skin bags, which goes on sale after ripening. This definition is quoted by a study published in 2024 in the Çukurova Journal of Agricultural and Food Sciences. Tulum cheese is made in many regions of Türkiye and can be produced from the milk of sheep, goats, cows or water buffalo. What sets Erzincan tulum apart from the others is both the milk used and the geography on which production depends.

An article published in 2020 by researchers from Atatürk and Bingöl universities writes that Erzincan tulum cheese is also known as Şavak cheese and that it is the best known of the tulum cheeses. According to the same study, the cheese is made by the Şavak tribe on the pastures around Erzincan, Erzurum, Tunceli, Bingöl and Elazığ between May and September, from the milk of Akkaraman sheep. The researchers prepared their own samples on the Dumlu pastures in Erzurum with the help of the Şavaks, whom they describe as the original producers of the cheese.

A registered designation of origin

Erzincan tulum cheese is a product protected by a geographical indication, and its type is a designation of origin. According to the registration document of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, the application was filed on 21 August 2000, the geographical indication was announced in the Official Gazette of 9 December 2000 and the registration date was recorded as 29 August 2001. The registration number is 30 and the registrant is the Erzincan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. An amendment to the document was published in the bulletin of 15 October 2021.

A designation of origin is the strictest type of geographical indication, stating that all the characteristics of a product are tied to a particular geography. The registration document draws the geographical boundary in a single sentence: the pastures of Erzincan province at an altitude of 1500 metres and above. In other words, a cheese made in a dairy on the plain from another province's milk cannot carry this name. According to the document, the words Erzincan Tulum Peyniri and the designation of origin emblem appear on the product or its packaging; where they cannot be printed on the product itself, the words and the emblem are kept on display where they can easily be seen in the business.

In 2025 the cheese was also registered in the European Union. An announcement by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office dated 27 May 2025 states that Erzincan Tulum Peyniri is the 32nd Turkish geographical indication product registered by the European Union. Familiar products such as Ezine cheese are on the same list.

Akkaraman milk and the calendar of the pasture

The most striking rule in the registration document concerns the milk. The cheese is made from raw milk milked between the fourth and ninth months of the year from Akkaraman sheep grazing within the geographical boundary. Up to 5 percent of Morkaraman sheep's milk or goat's milk may be added to this milk, so at least 95 percent of the mixture is sheep's milk. Production takes place between the fourth and twelfth months of the year. According to the document, one kilogram of cheese is obtained from four to five litres of milk.

This calendar is the calendar of the pasture. The production season that academic studies give as May to September corresponds to the months when the flocks are on the high grasslands. The registration document makes this link through the geographical boundary: the flocks that give the milk are Akkaraman sheep grazing on pastures above 1500 metres. The 2023 consumer study likewise reports the type of milk from animals grazing on high pastures, the ripening period and the salt ratio among the features considered important in consumers' preference for this cheese.

From rennet to skin bag

The registration document describes traditional production step by step. First the rennet is prepared: six or seven dried lamb stomachs or three or four calf stomachs are added to about 25 to 30 litres of whey and left for a week. The milk, strained several times, rests in vats for about two hours and is then set with rennet at a rate of one to three litres for every 100 litres of milk. After an hour the coagulum is taken into special strainers and the curd forms.

After resting for a day the curd is put into 50 kilogram sacks and turned over every day for about ten days so that the whey drains away completely. The cheese is then crumbled in troughs, salted at 2 to 2.5 percent with spring salt from the Kemah district of Erzincan and pressed tightly into sacks. The mouths of the sacks are sewn, they are stacked on top of one another and left for another ten days. Finally the cheese, now fully drained, is pressed tightly into bags of goat or sheep skin or into food grade packaging.

Ripening is the part that demands the most patience. According to the document, because raw milk is used the ripening period is at least four months, and the cheese is kept in cold stores at between minus two and zero degrees. Once ripening is complete it can be stored under the same conditions for up to twelve months. Researchers write that the cheese was originally ripened in caves for at least three months, sometimes for up to a year, whereas today it is mostly pressed into plastic containers and kept in the cold.

The tulum that gives the cheese its name, that is, the bag made of animal skin, also has a function. The 2024 aroma study notes that tulum cheeses can be produced in goat skin or in plastic containers, and that thanks to its porous structure goat skin is permeable to air and water compared with plastic containers. The biochemical changes that take place in the cheese during ripening are also influenced by this environment. The registration document accepts both kinds of packaging; cheese pressed into skin bags and cheese pressed into plastic containers must both follow the same rules and pass the same inspection.

Taste, texture and what the laboratory shows

The registration document describes the cheese as white and cream in colour, not easily falling apart, semi hard, homogeneous in structure and with a distinctly acidic taste; its aroma is felt as soon as it is in the mouth. The document also sets some limit values: dry matter at least 55 percent, moisture at most 45 percent, fat in dry matter at least 45 percent and salt in dry matter at most 5 percent. According to the document, what distinguishes the cheese is the use of at least 95 percent sheep's milk, traditional rennet and spring salt, and the tight pressing of the cheese.

Laboratory studies add detail to this description. The 2024 aroma study identified 22 aroma compounds in Erzincan tulum cheese; the most dominant group was the acids, led by hexanoic acid and butanoic acid. In the 2020 study comparing cheeses made from raw and pasteurised Akkaraman milk, the sensory panellists singled out the raw milk cheese ripened for three months in terms of overall liking. A 2023 survey of 271 consumers by a researcher from Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University also showed that the cheese's geographical indication and the place where it is bought are among the factors that influence the decision to buy.

Getting to know the cheese in Erzincan

The Erzincan Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism specifically recommends buying Erzincan tulum cheese and pan roasted chickpeas when shopping in the city; copperware and carpets are also among the local products the directorate lists. When you buy the cheese, look for the words Erzincan Tulum Peyniri and the designation of origin emblem on the packaging. This emblem shows that the product has been made according to the rules of the registration document and under inspection.

The inspection, too, is set out in the document. Under the coordination of the Erzincan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a board of at least three people is formed, with one expert from the chamber and at least two from the Erzincan Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry. The board inspects the suitability of the milk, the rennet and the salt, the production method, the composition of the product, the packaging and the use of the name at least once a year, and at any time when needed or when there is a complaint. The registrant chamber identifies and registers the producers and sends the reports to the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office every year.

The easiest way to get to know the cheese at the table is to eat it plain. Leave a piece at room temperature for a few minutes and then crumble it; you will then notice better the texture described in the registration document, which does not fall apart yet breaks easily, and its acidic edge. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism writes that the local cuisine consists largely of pastries and dough dishes, that kete and water börek are made a great deal, and that eşgili and kesme soup are among the main dishes. When your road leads to Erzincan, getting to know this table together with the cheese is a good start for understanding the city's cuisine, which stretches from the high pasture down to the plain.

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