Kaymak

Kaymak: the Turkish cheese you need on your breakfast table

Originally from Turkey but found in many Baltic countries, parts of the Middle East and India, kaymak is the creamiest, sweetest cheese you will ever find. Technically more of a thick cream than a cheese, kaymak is traditionally made from raw buffalo milk that’s 60% butterfat (cow’s milk is around 8-15%). It tastes like mascarpone, or the thick, butterfat-laden cream that’s scraped from the top of a milk glass bottle, then saved and spread over toast later if you’re anything like me.

I first discovered this beauty when my then-boyfriend, now husband, took me to a local Turkish bakery for breakfast. In case you haven’t heard, Turks make a MEAN breakfast. We’re talking breads and pastries, jams, sausage, other meats, egg, cucumber and tomato slices, olives, and at least 2 different cheeses. On the day we ordered the mixed breakfast, it had all this, plus kaymak.

The middle of our breakfast platter was blessed a tiny dish topped with a scoop of milky white cheese, drizzled in honey. It tasted like amped up cream, like the clotted cream served with scones and jam in England, but sweeter. According to my husband, raw buffalo milk was easy enough to find in Turkey that his grandmother often made it at home.

How do you make kaymak?

The Turkish version made from raw buffalo milk isn’t exported here. If you find kaymak in the U.S, it’ll be mainly made with cow’s cream. Because I haven’t been to Turkey to try the buffalo version, I can’t speak to its deliciousness, but I can tell you the ones you get here are super good.

I’m not exactly certain how traditional kaymak is made because even though my friends who grew up eating it do their best to describe how their grandmother’s made the cheese, the recipes sound very complex, and maybe even a little like a family’s secret, but the gist of it follows. Raw buffalo milk is brought to a boil, then slowly cooled overnight. No stirring. It seems like sometimes ambient culturing might happen because the milk isn’t refridgerated. Then in the morning the important part happens. The layer of cream that floated to the top of the milk overnight is skimmed off, rolled, then chilled. If you talk to a dairy-loving inhabitant of the British Isles, this is very similar to how they’d describe how clotted cream is made, sans any culturing. If kaymak is made here or for export to the U.S., it’s almost always made by using cow’s milk cream.

Where to buy it:

At Turkish markets, and at many Middle Eastern and Eastern European markets. Look for something sold in a small tub that looks like this. Because it differs depending on what country it’s made in, the spelling may vary. I look for kaymak without any added sugar, as is traditional.

What to eat it with:

In Turkey kaymak is traditionally served with honey, rose petal jam, or whatever homemade preserves are served with breakfast. A Bosnian friend told me she grew up eating kaymak, or “kajmak” as it’s called in Bosnia, a little later in the day. She loves it spread over grilled meat or bread, or, added to pastries for extra creaminess.

My favorite way? With honey. I call it dessert for breakfast.