Central Türkiye's cave-aged cheese nears its autumn debut

In Ayranci, a district about 45 kilometers (27.96 miles) from the city of Karaman in south-central Türkiye and roughly 100 kilometers south of Konya, villagers finish aging a geographically indicated cheese called Divle obruk in a natural underground cave.

The cave is set to reopen this autumn, releasing a harvest that traces back to spring pastures, generations of cheesemaking skill and a cave ecosystem found nowhere else.

Each April and May, sheep and goats graze freely on the meadows surrounding Divle village, producing the milk that becomes obruk cheese.

No supplementary feed is used; the animals depend entirely on natural pasture, a practice villagers say shapes the cheese's distinct flavor before it ever reaches the cave.

After milking, women in the village clean and prepare the curds, then pack them into lamb and kid skins known as tulum.

They stitch the skins closed by hand, sealing in the cheese before it begins its months-long transformation underground.

The filled skins travel roughly one kilometer east of Divle village to the mouth of Divle Obruk Cave, a natural chamber 36 meters deep and 250 meters long.

Workers lower the tulums into the cave's cool, dark interior, where they will remain untouched until autumn.

Inside the cave, a unique microbial flora begins working on the cheese almost immediately.

The skins turn white; villagers say no other cave in the world produces this same transformation, crediting the cave's specific conditions for the cheese's later color and taste.

Over the following months, the cave's environment gradually shifts each tulum's surface from white to blue and finally to red.

Muhtar Tacettin Durna said the microorganisms responsible for the change also concentrate the cheese's flavor, a process that cannot be replicated outside the cave.

Divle Obruk Cave holds roughly 45 tons of cheese at full capacity; this year's harvest totals about 42 tons.

Durna said cheese placed in the cave in April and May typically needs five to six months to be ready, with removal taking place in October and November.

Each year, villagers mark the cave's reopening with a ceremony before bringing out the season's cheese and offering it for sale.

Durna said demand is strong enough that customers begin placing orders during the summer, months before the cave is unsealed.

Buyers are advised to check for the cave's telltale red coloring on the skin's exterior, the clearest sign of authentic Divle obruk cheese, according to Durna. Once available, the cheese typically sells out within two months.

Original Divle obruk cheese sells for 1,200 to 1,500 Turkish liras (roughly $25 to $31) per kilogram, with prices online reaching 1,700 to 1,800 liras (about $35 to $37).