Cheese Database

Basket cheese vs Beyaz peynir

Basket cheese

Facts

Texture
Fresh
Type
Fresh
Rind
No rind
Country
Levant
Place
originated in Turkey

Basket cheese is a fresh cheese of the Levant, and the style originated in Turkey. The Turkish name is sepet peyniri, which means cheese of the basket. Makers drain the curd in a woven basket, and the weave leaves a pattern on the surface. A fresh piece is mild, moist, and often almost without salt. A drier piece is firmer and only lightly salty, but it is still a young cheese.

Beyaz peynir

Facts

Texture
Semi-soft
Type
Brined
Rind
No rind
Country
Turkey

Beyaz peynir is the everyday white cheese of Turkey, and the name simply means white cheese. Blocks are salted and kept in brine, so the paste stays moist, bright white, and free of a rind. Traditional production uses unpasteurized milk, and the cheese can range from a fresh mild curd to a firmer, sharper block. It stands with other white brine cheeses rather than with pressed yellow wheels. Shoppers across Turkey meet it in slices and in packed blocks.