Cheese Database

Beyaz peynir vs Mihaliç Peyniri

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.

Mihaliç Peyniri

Facts

Milk
Sheep
Texture
Hard
Type
Brined
Rind
Natural rind
Country
Turkey
Place
Balıkesir

Mihaliç Peyniri is a hard, salty sheep's milk cheese from Balıkesir in Turkey. Makers age it in brine until the paste is firm and full of small round eyes. The color runs from cream to pale yellow. A thin rind covers a dense interior that still has a little give. It is an aged cheese, not a fresh white cheese, even though brine is part of how it is kept.