Sirik (Kocher garlic cheese)

Sîrik is fresh cheese mixed with salted, chopped green garlic and kept for the winter. It is made in spring, when the flocks give plenty of milk, in the Kocher villages around al-Malikiyah (Derik), in the far north-east of Syria. In the past it was pressed into a container made of hide, buried, and dug up at the start of winter. Kocher homes keep it all year, and having none to offer a guest is thought shameful.

Who the Kocher are

Kocher means “nomad” in Kurdish. This Kurdish tribe once moved with its herds; today it is settled in more than 25 villages in the countryside of al-Malikiyah, Sheikh Sharm among them. Snack Syrian calls the area “Kocherat”.

When it is made, and from what

In March and April, while cheese is plentiful and cheap. Fresh spring garlic is gathered in bunches, chopped, salted and mixed into the cheese. The sîr in its name is the Kurdish word for garlic. The source does not say which animal’s milk the cheese comes from, nor how much salt goes in or how long it rests.

How it keeps underground

The mixture is pressed into a container made of animal hide and covered with sackcloth. A pit the size of the container is dug and the container is buried in it. Some families plaster the outside of the container with mud before burying it. The earth stays cool, so the cheese does not spoil; it comes out at the start of winter and goes to the table.

Why running out is shameful

If a guest in a Kocher home asks for sîrik and there is none, it reflects badly on the host. So the household keeps some all year. Sîrik is also a gift, sent to relatives in the towns of the Jazira and to family members living in Europe.

Its place on the Derik table

The Kurdish Wikipedia article on Derik lists the main foods of the area as cheese, jajî, mehîr and sîrik. Jajî is a different cheese: the Van herb cheese, made with many kinds of mountain herbs. Mehîr is the area’s wheat dish cooked in ayran. Among the cheeses on this site’s Syrian cheeses page, braided cheese, akkawi and baladi, there is no garlic cheese kept underground.

Where to eat it

At home tables in the Kocher villages around al-Malikiyah, and in relatives’ homes in the towns of the Jazira, where it arrives as a gift. There is no verified information about it being sold.