Söğle cheese, a traditional speciality from Elmalı, a district in the Turkish province of Antalya, is made from goat’s and sheep’s milk on pastures situated at an altitude of around 2,000 metres. What makes it unique is that it matures for four months underground, in centuries-old wells some 12 metres deep, situated on the slopes of the nearby Kızlar Sivrisi mountain. To make it, the milk is heated to around 40 degrees, mixed with a special starter culture and, after the cheese has been grated and salted, it is compacted using a tool called a keskiç before being placed in the wells.
Söğle cheese is included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List and the local authorities are now working to secure its geographical indication. Meanwhile, according to the DHA news agency, Antalya Metropolitan Municipality is carrying out a project to document the traditional cheeses of the province’s 19 districts and preserve the gastronomic heritage of the Yörük nomadic culture – communities of Turkish and Turkmen origin belonging to the Oguz Turkic peoples who have practised nomadic pastoralism in Anatolia for centuries. The project also includes the publication of a book on Antalya cheeses and the organisation of a festival dedicated to Söğle.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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