Erol comes from Turkey, a country where cheese is highly valued. Most of the cheese there is the kind Erol makes – fresh, white cheese. It is served at all meals, particularly breakfast, where it is often the main course.
Erol’s Story
I feel like my story is more inspiring then educational. Cheesemaking is not that hard and it is super fun. My wife and I are 2 internationals, far from our parents, with a baby and we can do it.
I am from the beautiful city of Istanbul, Turkey. I moved to the United States about 13 years ago. At first, I came to improve my English. Then I never left, except during holidays.
I live with my wife Ana and my daughter Miranda. Ana is from Venezuela, and has an Organic Chemistry Ph.D. from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. My daughter is about two years old.
In 2019, I finished my Master’s and Ph.D. at Auburn in the Nutrition, Dietetics, and Hospitality Management department.
For one of my research projects, I traveled to several cities in Wisconsin and visited cheesemakers. After that, the love of cheese grew in me, and I appreciated cheese more than ever before.
I brought my wife and my daughter on that trip. While we were visiting the National Historic Cheesemaking Center Museum, Mrs. Mary Ann (the former director of the National Historic Cheesemaking Center and a docent and Archives Committee member) gave a small, plush cow to Miranda. Since then, this little cow has become our daughterâs best friend, Moo.
I stayed at Auburn University for about a year as a post-doc. Then, I moved to Bloomington, IL where I was hired as an Assistant Professor at Illinois State University in August 2020.
Here, I am teaching food-related courses and working on my research projects in the Food and Nutrition Management program. My research areas are food allergies, environmental sustainability, consumer behavior in the food industry, and craft breweries in general.
We have a state-of-the-art food lab. In one of my classes, where I teach the principles of food preparation, I show the chemistry of cheesemaking, and the students make simple homemade ricotta. I demonstrate the steps of the home and industrial cheesemaking.
Most students canât believe the easiness of the process and the beautiful fresh taste of homemade cheese. Some of them are particularly interested in making their homemade cheese, so we talk more about it.
I have always been a cheese lover. As a matter of fact, Turkey has around 200 types of cheese and we have seven different regions where you can find the very distinct taste and smell of different kinds of cheese. However, the most common one and my favorite is white cheese or âbeyaz peynirâ (bay-AHZ’ PAY-neer) as we use it sliced for breakfast, to fill pastries, to crumble on top of our salads and to put on our cheese platters, etc.
The taste is similar to feta but less salty and way creamier. I can find it in Turkish markets, but I donât have one close, so, because of the hassle, I started to try making it in 2020. After failing several times, I found a feta cheese recipe and modified it. Â Now, I am making it all the time.
My modifications: Usually, when you make feta, you keep the temperature at 90F at all times. I actually cook it at 115F after I cut it. Also, when you make feta, you usually brine the cheese but I simply mix the salt into it, as with cheddar making. I also press heavier on my cheese, as compared to feta.
I vacuum pack it and age it for about three months before consuming it.
Bloomington has harsh winters and I find cheesemaking is a great family activity in the winter months. I have been making cheese for about three years. I started with 1 gallon, then 2-gallons. Now, I use 4 gallons of milk and my sous vide machine when I make cheese.
I buy my milk from local sources and, sometimes from stores that sell local farmersâ products. I am using the Find Good Milk List from your website. We have several farmers and creameries where I live (I can also find some goat milk).
I consider myself a beginner. So far, I have only made soft cheeses but my following three cheese types are gouda, parmesan, and cheddar.
I made a cheese press from materials like wood, screws, and springs from home improvement stores. However, I found using free weights much easier and more convenient for the cheeses I make.
I donât have a cave. As I mentioned earlier, we moved to Bloomington in 2020. With a new job, a new baby, and a new city, I didnât have time to consider buying or making one. I simply vacuum pack my cheeses if I need to age them.
The space for the cave is another problem for me right now as this should be far from the baby. However, very likely I am going to build one very soon. You (cheesemaking.com) have great posts explaining how to make one. I will have the pleasure of using a wine cooler and turning it into a cheese cave/fridge.
My goals:
I never had a goal for cheese making, but I definitely want to move to complex cheese making and age them properly. I love to make different cheese styles. I like to perfect one styleâs recipe or make one type comfortable, so it always takes time for me to move on to the next. I believe pro-Covid, I felt more comfortable sharing my cheese so I could make more.đ
My other hobbies:
I just love to make things. Name it. I ferment my wine, make my beer and dry cured sausages, bake my sourdough bread and pickled vegetables, and make yogurt.
I love cooking but also love seeing the chemical changes in food. I love to experiment with what we can control and sometimes there are things you canât control in your simple kitchen. It is fascinating to experience the changes in food with some little environmental changes.
Another hobby is backgammon. My club meets every Monday evening.
Every year the best five players from each city/backgammon club go to Chicago and play with other clubs from the state of Illinois for the title. We didn’t win but this was my team in the picture below.
Ricki Carroll says
Erol, I loved reading your story, your knowledge, your generosity and your love of life all contribute to your wonderful family and fantastic love in the art of producing so much your own great food. Thank you for sharing this with our readers, enjoy your continuing adventures into the world of home cheese making and good luck with your backgammon!
margaret A byrd says
It is a lovely story. I enjoyed hearing of your adventures. Thank you for sharing
Erol Sozen says
Thank you for reading it.
A very inspiring story. Thank you for sharing your story
Thank you for reading it Gary!
Erol
Beautiful family and inspirational story.
Love your hobbies!
I am a novice cheese and cured meat maker. Your Sucuk sausage sounds interesting, would you share your recipe?
Keep on inspiring the students!!
Cheese on!
Dennis
Hi Dennis. Thank you very much. For sucuk, I am using this formula:
Kosher Salt %3
Cure #2 %0.25
Dextrose %0.30
B.pepper %0.50
Red pepper %0.50
Cumin %0.25
Garlic %0.50
Allspice %0.20
Olive oil %0.25
T-SPX culture 1/4 tsp-0.6 for 5kg
For meat, I use %80 beef brisket and %20 lamb split breast. If you use less lamb, you can add a little bit of extra fat.
I use fresh garlic so if you use ground garlic, make your own judgment. I filled them with 35-38mm natural beef rounds. Then, I kept them out for 72 hours or so for fermentation. I kept them 50-60 F. I don’t have a chamber so with low humidity, it took about a month(32 days to be specific). In Turkey, we slice sucuk thick and slightly cook. If you want to eat this way , try to decrease your k. salt a bit. maybe use %2.5??If you want to slice it like salami %3 is great. Please let me know if this was helpful or you need any other information.Best of luck!
Erol
Thanks for sharing!
I look forward to giving this a try in the fall.
Currently I am trying to finish my Dutch cheese press and expand my cheese.
thanks again
Cheese on!
Dennis
Your article really inspires me to start making cheese. It is my favorite food!
Yay!
Thanks Erol for your uplifting story. Itâs great to hear of another cheese maker in Bloomington. It seems that we both started about the same time. Good luck with all your ventures.
Buddy Wallace
That’s awesome. The world is much smaller than I think đ Thank you!
VERY GOOD STORY
Thank you.
Thanks for great story,with an inspiring can do attitude.
Thank you so much Peter!
Fascinated by your story. I too am from Bloomington. Iâm a little intimidated to make cheese but secretly want too. Maybe I should look into auditing one of your food classes.
Hi Susan. Don’t be. I would suggest you watch Gavin Webber’s Youtube channel. He explains everything very well. You can always find your materials and ingredients online. It is a great, tasty hobby :)Best of luck!
Great story and beautiful family. You come from one of my favourite countries. I spend about 3 weeks in Turkey a very long time ago. I have never met such sincerely friendly people anywhere else. The food was amazing, the scenery spectacular, and the backgammon a lot of fun. I actually learned the game on this trip, and within days was playing in tea houses against locals. My favourite meal was always breakfast. Now I want to try to reproduce that cheese also. Cheers.
Donna, it is great to hear that. I traveled to many countries, and I can say that Turkey is a very underestimated country.Please do try and let me know if you have any questions.
Good Day Erol,
Thank you, you mentioned the vacuum sealing for the aging, is this something you have tried on other types of cheeses?
Hmm not really. It actually somehow works for cheddar as well. I aged about 9 months, and it turned out great. Of course it is not ideal but I found it reasonable.
Great story! Would love to see more Turkish cheese recipes from you! Iâm a Venezuelan as your wife is đ
Hola Hilda! Great! My wife and her Venezuelan friends like Turkish cheese a lot! đ
Erol, thank you for sharing your story! Your education in nutrition and food sciences really show in your passion for making and eating/drinking your own creations. I love that you have been able to adjust recipes to fit your needs. Your family is beautiful!
Thank you so much Paulette!I love to eat and drink; more than I should lol đ
Que histĂłria bacana!!! Congrats!
Gracias!
Erol, thanks for sharing your story. It shows you are adventurous and courageous and all you do is full of encouragement for others. I can only wish you the best of luck in your endeavours and congratulations on your accomplishments!
Priscilla, thank you very much. I only try my best; hopefully, we will also teach this to our daughter.
Erol, you have a beautiful family. You story is encouraging as the USA has welcomed immigrants and you are certainly thriving. With such a background in chemistry and food handling in your lives, it is no wonder that you have gotten into cheese making!
I am particularly intrigued by your Beyaz Peynir. And your press is really going back to simplicity!! Well done!
I personally have a chemical engineering degree that I took into a career in medicine. My own cheese making takes me back to my chemistry background, and the overall process benefits regularly from my training as a surgeon in sterile technique.
I am making today a new Italico recipe. Iâm very interested in this new cheese for me. It is my first experience with Italico. Cheddar tomorrow.
And I might mention that I have to drive 360 miles round trip to get my âgood milkâ. Raw milk is not legal for sale in Virginia or North Carolina, so I have a trusted dairy farmer in South Carolina that I use and support.
Peace! God bless, and cheese on!
I live in SC and I am trying to find good milk. The grocery store stuff is awful for cheesemaking. Where do you get your milk in SC?
Hello Charles, thank you very much. How did your Italico turn out? Good luck with Cheddar. Are you making several kinds of cheese in a row because you drove too far to get your milk, or is this your routine?
Erol, thank you for a great story. I enjoy hearing about young people doing good things and of course making cheese. My wife and I retired from Peoria and that is very close to you. Then we moved to the hills of Missouri were we raise goats for milk and cheese making. Anyway congrats on your endeavors and we wish you and family the very best.
Wow, James! Yes, Peoria is only 45 minutes from us. I love Peoria as the city has too many Mediterranean restaurants đ
Goats for milk and cheese making? Goats are so much fun to play with. Amazing! I absolutely love goat milk and cheese. Enjoy it.
Good Day Erol,
We are a small regenertive farm in South Western Idaho. We got into Goats for feeding baby sheep this year, which has turned into raising dairy goats as part of our farming went from 2 goats now we are up to 7 out 11 in milk. we love making raw goat cheese. hoping this winter we will be expanding our product lines. thank you for sharing your story.
Woww amazing. Good luck.