Turkish Breakfast III

Today we keep going to talk about Turkish Breakfast. This article will be the 3rd entry about the significant part of Turkish cuisine. On this entry, I would like to talk about the cheese types that Turkish people prefer to eat during their breakfast. I’ll also mention some specialties of Turkish cuisine as well.

Thanks to big territory of Turkey, it’s possible to find different climates at the same time in different places. It’s clear that, this structure enhances the variety of the food products. For that reason, we have numerous different kinds of dairy products and fruits & vegetables. Regarding breakfast culture, from the fresh fruits we are making jams or marmalades and from the high quality milk, we are producing a large amount of various types of cheese. 

 While having breakfast, we really like eating jam and cheese together. It’s a good combination. I recommend you to try eating in that way; sweet and salty together! Also we love eating honey with cheese. 

Let’s start with the cheese types:

White Cheese

Although I’m calling this kind of cheese “white cheese”, in some sources, it’s called “Feta Cheese” as the Greek Cheese. However, Turkish white cheese quite different from the Feta cheese. I can say that, the Turkish White cheese is more acidic and more aromatic whereas the feta cheese is a kind of fresh cheese and it’s not acidic as much as white cheese. Beyaz peynir is a salty cheese taking its name from its white color.

  Çanakkale - Ezine Region. White Cheese ! It seems incredible. As I've said before, like honey-jam & cheese combination, we like eating fresh tomatoes with tasty "Ezine White Cheese".

Kasseri Cheese

In Turkish, it’s Kaşar cheese. Actually, we have two types of Kaşar cheese basically. One of them is “eski kaşar” and other is “taze kaşar”. Taze kaşar is fresh (unaged) and mild; eski kaşar is aged, a bit sharper and more flavorful.

Fresh Unaged Kaşar

 

Aged, delicious kaşar.

Apart from these major types, Turkey produces many varieties of cheese, mostly from sheep's milk. In general, these cheeses are not long matured, with a comparatively low fat content. The production of many kinds of cheese is local to particular regions.

Lor is the other type of unsalted white cheese, similarly made from the whey left over from kaşar manufacture. Lor is used in traditional desserts made from unsalted cheese like höşmerim.

Tulum is a sheep's cheese preserved in an animal skin bag (Turkish: tulum, which is also the word for a traditional bagpipe). There are regional varieties of tulum peynir in such areas as İzmir, Ödemiş and Erzincan

Otlu peynir ("herbed cheese") is produced in many areas, chiefly in East Anatolia. Traditionally sheep's or goat's milk is used, but more recently cow's milk otlu peynir has been produced. The type of herb used varies by region: in Van wild garlic[disambiguation needed ] is traditional; Bitlis otlu peynir contains a damp-loving herb known as sof otu. In other areas horse mint (Mentha longifolia) and Pimpinella rhodentha are used.

Örgü peyniri, "braided cheese", is a specialty from Diyarbakır.

Of course, in Turkey it’s possible to find different types of cheeses. As I’ve said before, Turkey is a rich country in terms of its cuisine. Especially for the breakfast, we can say that, the major cheese types of the Turkish breakfast are “white cheese” and “kasar cheese”. Personally, I extremely like eating “tulum cheese” during also breakfast with some butter. Of course don’t forget the fresh bread !

During Breakfast, TEA; after Breakfast COFFEE

Tea usually good traditional Turkish tea brewed super-strong and meant to be cut with hot water to your desired color and strength (1:4 or even 1:5). Traditionally served only with sugar, but lemon is often available for foreigners. There's always milk for the coffee on the buffet so you can astound the waiters by putting some in your tea if you like.

After half an hour from the breakfast, now it’s time to drink Turkish coffee. For sure, it will help you to digest the foods that you ate and also it will create a little bit stimulant effect on you which can help you for staying away from sleep.  For more detailed information about Turkish coffee, you can reach some information by clicking here.

Foamy Turkish coffee

Finally, when talking about the drinks also, fresh fruit juices come to my mind. According to your preference, if you don’t like drinking hot drinks while having your breakfast, you can drink fruit juice. According to Turkish breakfast culture, traditionally tea is served, however fruit juice can be taken as well.

According to Wikipedia, Juice is the liquid that is naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue. It is commonly consumed as a beverage or used as an ingredient or flavoring in foods.Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating fruit or vegetable flesh without the application of heat or solvents. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree, and tomato juice is the liquid that results from pressing the fruit of the tomato plant. Juice may be prepared in the home from fresh fruit and vegetables using a variety of hand or electric juicers. Juice is one of the most popular drinks to go with breakfast in the morning.

To be continued,

Sources: Wikipedia, turkeytravelplanner