Chechil

Chechil^[a] (also chechili)^[b] is a brined string cheese primarily made from skimmed cow's milk, though it can also be produced from mixtures of cow, sheep, and goat milk.^[4] It is a pasta filata -type cheese that is pulled into thin strings and typically formed into braids.^[5]

Chechil is similar to mozzarella.^{[1] [6]} It occupies an intermediate position between rennet- and acid-set cheeses and is sometimes classified as a sulguni-type cheese.^{[7] [4]} The cheese is popular in Armenia and Georgia.^[8]

The word ჩეჩილი (chechili) in Georgian directly means "[something] that is unraveled/separated", which derives from the Georgian verb ჩეჩვა (chechva), meaning "to tear apart" or "to unravel or "to separate". The root ჩეჩ- (chech-) conveys the act of pulling apart, unraveling or shredding, while the suffix -ილი (-ili) is a common Georgian nominal suffix that acts as a resultative participle that forms nouns from verbs, often denoting a resulting state or characteristic.^{[9] [10] [11]} The verb chechva ("to tear/shred") also gives rise to the past participle forms dachechili ("torn") and gachechili ("shredded") when combined with a preverb, while chechili is the form without a preverb and belongs to the oldest layer of Georgian agricultural terminology.^{[10] [3]}

In Armenian, the word chil literally means "lean" or "stringy",^{[12] [13] [14] [15]} and chechil translates as "that separates into threads" (թել-թել բաժանվող).^[12] Other names are also used in Armenian, such as chechil panir,^[c] tel panir,^[d] husats panir,^[e] chil panir,^[f] as well as chivil panir.^[g]

In Russian, the cheese is known as syr-kosichka.^{[h] [citation needed ]} In Turkish, the cheese is referred to as çeçil, civil peyniri, saçak, tel, dil, or örgü cheese.^{[citation needed ]}

The Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary mentions the cheese chil (or tchil), identifying these names as Armenian terms.^[17] The Oxford Companion to Cheese lists chechil panir as an Armenian cheese.^[5] The cheese is also referred to as twisted string cheese.^[5]

According to the 19th-century Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, the cheese chil (or tchil) was being produced in the Alexandropol district of the Erivan Governorate from skimmed milk.^{[i] [17]} Milk was left to sour in shallow wooden vats, the cream separated, and a starter culture added.^[17] The resulting curd was salted, kneaded in salted water, and formed into large circles or bundles of thin strands, known as chetchil or chechil.^[17]

The original chechil was made through direct acidification, without rennet.^[5] In the former Soviet countries, chechil production increased with the advent of automated production lines in the late 20th and early 21st centuries,^[7] with major producers including the Giaginskiy  [ru] and Ruzaevsky dairy factories in Russia.^[7]

In Western countries, chechil is often referred to as Armenian cheese or Syrian cheese.^[6] Armenian refugees who settled in Syria after the 1915 Armenian genocide introduced the cheese there.^[6]

The cheese is made from skimmed milk with high acidity.^{[18] [4]} To achieve the desired acidity, the milk is left to sour at a temperature of 35–40 °C, or acidic whey, sour milk, or matzoon (a fermented milk product) is added.^[4] Rennet or pepsin is added when the acidity of the milk reaches 45–50 °T for cow's milk and 100–110 °T for sheep's milk.^[4] The coagulation temperature is 38–40 °C, and the process lasts 5–10 minutes.^[4]

After the curd forms, it is heated to 48–54 °C with continuous stirring.^[4] The curd turns into flakes, which stick together and form a long ribbon.^{[4] [18]} The cheese mass is gathered, kneaded, stretched, and tied into skeins.^[4] The fresh mass is aged in brine with a concentration of 16–19%; sometimes it is mixed with curd or other cheeses and stored in unglazed jugs or in a sheep's skin.^[4]

In Armenia, chechil is most common in the Shirak region.^[19] Armenian varieties include husats and tel panir, which are made by repeatedly stretching heated cheese curds into thin strands and twisting them into ropes.^{[18] [5] [6] [19]} Traditionally, these cheeses were stored in brine in clay pots, and later in enamel or glass containers.^[19] Gyumri chechil with blue mold is another regional variant.^{[citation needed ]}

Chechil is used as a main ingredient in the traditional dish Panrkhash.^[20]

The tradition of making chechil and husats cheeses in the Shirak region is included in the intangible cultural heritage list of the Republic of Armenia.^[21]

In Georgia, there are varieties such as Meskhuri chechili and Acharuli chechili. In the United Kingdom, Meskhuri chechili is a protected geographical indication by agreement between the UK and Georgian governments."^[22]

In Turkey, civil peyniri is a similar or identical brined string cheese.^{[23] [24] [25] [26]} In 2009, Erzurum civil peyniri was officially registered with the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office and granted a geographical indication.^{[27] [28]}

Another variety is the moldy Erzurum civil cheese, locally known as göğermiş peynir, which also been registered and received a geographical indication from the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.^{[citation needed ]}

• Fat in dry matter — up to 10%^[4]
• Moisture — no more than 60%^[4]
• Table salt — 4–8%^[4]

The cheeses are twisted into coils weighing 3–4 kg.^[4] Before consumption, due to their high salt content and firm texture, chechil is soaked in warm or cold water.^[18]

Research by M. A. Volkova and Z. K. Dilanyan shows that the microflora of chechil cheese reaches its peak within the first day.^[4] The main microorganisms are Lactococcus lactis (47 %) and Lactobacillus casei (53 %).^[4] The development of lactic acid bacteria occurs faster than in other cheeses, and their dominance persists until the end of ripening.^[4] One gram of chechil contains approximately 580,000 lactic acid bacteria according to the MPA method and about 5 million according to the maximum dilution method.^[4]

• Armenian tel panir (husats panir)
  Armenian tel panir (husats panir)
• Kurdish çîçal
  Kurdish çîçal
• Turkish çeçil in Kars
  Turkish çeçil in Kars
• Chechil in the dish Panrkhash
  Chechil in the dish Panrkhash

• List of cheeses
• List of stretch-curd cheeses
• String cheese

• Media related to Chechil at Wikimedia Commons

• Brined white cheeses
• Smoked cheeses
• Stretched-curd cheeses
• Armenian cheeses
• Turkish cheeses

• Articles containing Armenian-language text
• Pages with Armenian IPA
• Articles containing Georgian-language text
• Articles containing Russian-language text
• CS1 Georgian-language sources (ka)
• CS1 interwiki-linked names
• CS1 Russian-language sources (ru)
• CS1 Armenian-language sources (hy)
• CS1 maint: location missing publisher
• CS1 Turkish-language sources (tr)
• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hRecipes
• Articles with Adr microformats
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2025
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2025
• Commons category link is on Wikidata