Erzincan Tulum Peyniri

Erzincan Tulum Peyniri is a whole-fat, semi-hard cheese produced from raw Akkaraman sheep's milk in the province of Erzincan in the Upper Euphrates section of the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The European Commission entered it in the Union register of geographical indications on 27 May 2025, by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1013, published in Official Journal L series. Turkey's application was published in the Official Journal of the European Union as OJ C/2025/500 on 24 January 2025. The applicant body is Erzincan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Erzincan Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası), established in 1923. The product specification carries reference Ares(2024)7360752, dated 16 October 2024.

The specification classifies Erzincan Tulum Peyniri as Class 1.3 — Cheeses. The CN code is 0406 (Cheese and curd) within chapter 04 (Dairy produce).

What makes it distinct

Erzincan Tulum Peyniri is defined by four interlocking requirements absent from standard white cheeses:

At least 95% raw Akkaraman sheep's milk. The specification mandates unprocessed whole-fat milk from the Akkaraman breed — fat is not removed at any stage. A maximum of 5% Morkaraman sheep's milk or goat's milk may be added. No milk from outside Erzincan province may be used. Akkaraman milk is characterised by high fat content (greater than 6%) and a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, both products of the breed's genetics and its grazing regime on the high-altitude pastures of Erzincan.

Traditional lamb or calf abomasum rennet. Rennet is prepared by adding 6–7 dried lamb abomasum or 3–4 calf abomasum to 25–30 litres of whey containing approximately 10% NaCl and keeping them for 1–2 weeks. The filtered whey is then used as the coagulant at 28–32°C. No commercial or microbial starter culture is used.

Kemah spring salt exclusively. The specification designates natural spring salt from the Kemah district of Erzincan province — referred to as Kemah salt — as the sole permitted salt. Its amorphous structure allows it to dissolve readily into the cheese matrix and facilitates water expulsion during processing.

Maturation in skin bags or plastic drums for at least four months. After initial drainage and salting, the crumbled curd is packed tightly — by hand — into goat skin bags, sheep skin bags, or food-grade plastic drums of 25 kg capacity, with no air spaces permitted. The drums are pierced in 20–50 places with a pointed nail-shaped tool (biz) to allow continued syneresis during cold-storage ripening at −2°C to 0°C for a minimum of four months. After the ripening period, storage can continue for up to 12 months under the same conditions.

The result is a rindless, white to cream cheese with a granular, homogeneous structure that crumbles easily when squeezed between two fingers and disperses quickly in the mouth. The flavour is described in the Single Document as creamy, animal-like, lipolytic, fermented, sulfurous and fruity, with a distinctively tongue-biting and throat-burning acidic quality that stimulates the salivary glands.

Chemical specification

The following values are taken directly from the Single Document (OJ C/2025/500) and Product Specification:

Property	Value
Total solids	Minimum 55%
Moisture	Maximum 45%
Fat in dry matter	Minimum 45%
Salt in dry matter	Maximum 5%
Titratable acidity (as lactic acid)	Maximum 2%
pH	4.7–5.4

Flavour-active compounds identified in the specification include: aromatic terpenes (α/β-pinene, limonene, terpinene, copaene, α/β-caryophyllene and related compounds) passing into the cheese via the animal's feeding regime; organic acids (acetic, propionic, 2-methyl propanoic) from microbial activity; free fatty acids (butanoic, hexanoic, octanoic) from lipolytic activity; oxidation products (2-heptanone, 2/3-nonene, nonanol); and esters (ethyl butanoate, methyl hexanoate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate and others).

Production zone

The entire province of Erzincan constitutes the PDO production area, per the Single Document. Erzincan province covers 11,903 km² in the Upper Euphrates Section of Eastern Anatolia, located between approximately 39°02′–40°05′ north latitude and 38°16′–40°45′ east longitude. It is bordered by Erzurum to the east, Bingöl to the southeast, Bayburt and Gümüşhane to the north, Giresun to the northwest, Sivas to the west, Tunceli to the south, and Elazığ and Malatya to the southwest.

All steps must be carried out within this province: animal husbandry, animal feeding, milk production, cheese processing, filling and maturation.

Landscape and climate

Erzincan province has a semi-arid continental climate with cold, rainy winters and dry, hot summers. Its topography is extreme: the Erzincan Plain sits at an average altitude of approximately 1,200 m, but is surrounded by mountain ranges exceeding 3,000 m — the highest point being Keşiş Peak (3,549 m) in the Esence Mountains. Mountainous areas cover approximately 93% of the province's land area.

Meteorological data covering the period 1930–2020 record: average annual temperature 10.9°C; average annual precipitation 367.2 mm; monthly average relative humidity ranging from 52.3% to 74.7% (annual average 64.2%). The lowest summer humidity of 23% occurs in July and August.

As of 2019, 36% of provincial land consists of meadow-pasture — proportionally high, reflecting the mountainous structure. The specification identifies three named plateaus with rich vegetation used for transhumance: Çimen, Melan and Sarıçiçek. Additionally, 596 endemic taxa have been identified in Erzincan province, 64 specific to the province.

The Akkaraman sheep breed — milked between the fourth and ninth months of the year — grazes on pastures for a minimum of six months annually. Winter feeding is with hay harvested from within the province, supplemented where needed with winter cereals also produced in Erzincan. Concentrated animal feed is excluded throughout.

Historical context

The specification records that Erzincan Tulum Peyniri was originally produced by members of the Şavak tribe, a semi-nomadic group who took their herds to high-altitude Erzincan plateaus in late spring and early summer. The first scientific reference to the cheese dates to 1938 (İzmen, cited in the specification). The product specification notes six doctoral and seven master's research studies completed on the cheese, and industrial production from Erzincan became established over time from the Şavak artisan tradition.

Production method

Raw Akkaraman sheep's milk is filtered through cloth filters and rested in fermentation vats for approximately two hours. Rennet (1–3%), prepared from dried lamb or calf abomasum as described above, is added at 28–32°C. Coagulation takes 60–90 minutes. The clot is broken to approximately 1 cm³ pieces, filled into cloth bags, and left to drain. The bags are stacked alternately during the day. After initial drainage, the curd is shredded to pea-sized pieces by hand or wooden mixers, salted with 2–2.5% Kemah spring salt, and pressed tightly into 50 kg bags. The bags are sewn shut and stacked.

After 5–6 days, the bags are emptied, crumbled again and optionally sprinkled with 1% additional salt, refilled into clean bags and held for a further 3–5 days. After approximately ten days of total drainage, the cheese is moved to cold storage. Once fully drained, it is shredded again to pea-sized pieces. In some dairies, the crumbled cheese is stirred every 2–3 hours and rested for 18–24 hours to achieve partial oxidation and increased microbial activity before filling.

The cheese is then packed tightly by hand into the final container — goat skin bags (35–50 kg), sheep skin bags (50–70 kg), lamb skin bags (25–35 kg), or 25 kg food-grade plastic drums — with no air spaces. Plastic drums are pierced with the biz tool in 20–50 places during ripening to allow ongoing water expulsion. Cold storage ripening proceeds at −2°C to 0°C for a minimum of four months.

Control

Control authority per Register Extract (field 5): Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Erzincan District Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry (Audit Body), İnönü Mah. 12. Sok. No: 2 Merkez/Erzincan. Tel: +90446 214 26 61; erzincan@tarimorman.gov.

Erzincan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (erzincantso@tobb.org.tr) keeps records on producers, production areas, facilities, processing, packaging and storage and acts as secretariat and coordinating body. Audit criteria cover milk origin and breed, production stages, maturation period, physical and chemical properties, flavour, packaging, and PDO logo compliance.