Cheeses of Erzincan
An eastern Anatolian city whose tulum cheese, packed into skins or sacks and aged, is one of Turkey's most prized.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: May to September.
Erzincan lies in a wide valley of eastern Anatolia, ringed by high mountains used as summer pasture. It lends its name to Erzincan tulum peyniri, a crumbly, buttery sheep's milk cheese packed into goatskin or sacks and aged. Turkey has many tulum cheeses, but the Erzincan one, also called Şavak tulumu after the herders who made it, is the most famous.
Tulum cheese
To make Erzincan tulum, sheep's milk curd is drained, broken up, salted and packed tightly into a cleaned goatskin, the tulum, or today often a plastic sack. It is aged in cool places for months. The result is white, crumbly and creamy, with a sharp, buttery flavour. It is eaten at breakfast with bread, olives and honey, or with fresh melon in summer.
Pasture and valley
Şavak herders traditionally moved flocks up to the high pastures of the Munzur and other mountains in summer, where the cheese was made. Erzincan city was rebuilt after a great earthquake in 1939. The Kemaliye gorge on the Euphrates and the Girlevik waterfall are nearby sights, and the province holds a geographical indication for its cheese.
A trail idea for Erzincan
- Erzincan cheese shops Taste tulum at different ages in the city centre.
- Girlevik waterfall A cascade in the hills south of the city.
- Kemaliye A historic town above the Euphrates gorge.
- A Turkish breakfast Eat tulum with bread, honey and tomatoes.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Erzincan" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tulum: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, source