Beyaz peynir vs Sirene
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.
Sirene
Facts
- Texture
- Semi-hard
- Type
- Brined
- Rind
- No rind
- Country
- Bulgaria
Sirene is the white brined cheese of Bulgaria, sold in blocks that sit in salty liquid. The paste is white and slightly grainy, and it breaks into moist crumbs rather than bending like a soft bloomy cheese. Salt is part of the identity, because the cheese finishes in brine. In Bulgaria the name means this everyday white cheese, not one branded wheel. A block can taste fresh and tangy, or firmer and saltier, depending on its time in the brine.