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After becoming an ACS CCP in 2013, I spent the next 5 years creating and compiling hundreds of documents to assist those sitting for the ACS CCP Exam and all Cheese Enthusiasts who wanted to increase their Cheese IQ. These documents are all posted and linked here.
All cheeses fall into one of the following categories (Often more than one) and understanding what each style is can help make your next cheese-buying trip anxiety-free and more enjoyable.
Fresh Cheese: Any cheese that does not undergo any ripening period is a fresh cheese. These cheeses have high moisture content; are mild in taste and have a creamy texture. Fresh cheeses include cottage cheese, cream cheese, and ricotta. While mostly bland, they improve, taste-wise, when mixed with other flavors such as herbs, fruit and sweeteners. These cheeses often have acidic or citrus taste and the taste of fresh milk (lactic). Most of these cheeses should be eaten within a few days to a couple of weeks of when the package is opened. These cheeses have a short “Use-by” date.
Other fresh cheeses include Cotija, some Mozzarellas, Queso Fresco, Mascarpone, Feta,Vermont Butter and Cheese Company Fromage Blanc, Fresh Goat Cheese aka Chevre, Bel Gioioso Burrata, Crave Brothers Mascarpone, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company Crottin, Bel Gioioso Crescenza-Stracchino and BelGioioso Tiramisu Mascarpone.
Soft-Ripened Cheese: These are cheeses that ripen from the outside in and are soft even when chilled and can be runny when out at room temperature. The outside rind is often a white, bloomy rind that has been added to the milk or sprayed with a mold, usually penicillium candidum, before a short aging period. The most common cheeses in this category are Brie, Camembert and Triple Creams. In the United States most of these cheeses are made from pasteurized milk (99%); whereas in Europe many of these cheeses are still made from raw milk. Because of the FDA Regulation requiring that raw milk cheeses be aged at least sixty days, most European Cheesemakers make both raw milk and pasteurized versions of their cheeses that fall into this category. I have addressed this issue in a separate posting that you might like to read.
Included in this category are Brie de Nangis, Humboldt Fog, St. Andre, Delice de Bourgogne, St. Albray, Champignon, Cambozola, Pierre Robert, Formager d’Affinois, Crave Brothers Les Freres, Florette, Explorateur, St. Maure, Le Chatelain, Soignon Chevrion Buche, Fourgerus, Brillat Savarin.
Semi-Soft Cheese: Cheeses in this category have a smooth and mostly creamy interior with little or no rind. Like fresh cheeses, semi-soft cheeses usually have high moisture content and often are pungent; but can also be quite mild. Raw milk and pasteurized milk are both used in this category. Blues and washed-rind category cheeses can also be in this category.
Semi-soft cheeses include Chaumes, Bel Gioioso Fontina, Havarti, Monterey Jack, Bleu D’Auvergne, St. Agur, Bellwether Farms’ Carmody, Roth Kase Petit Swiss, Jarlsberg, Roth Kase ButterKase and young Goudas.
Washed-Rind Cheese: These cheeses are surface-ripened by washing the cheeses with brine, wine, brandy, beer or other ingredients throughout the aging process. The washing encourages the growth of bacteria known as B. linens and promotes pungent, sometimes very pungent, aromas and are therefore sometimes known as “stinky cheese”. While at Roth-Kase last spring, one of the duties The Lady completed in her Cheesemaking Class was to wash the ripening Gruyere. Also in my review of Taleggio, I state that it is also known as “My Father’s Smelly Feet”. In contrast to their smelly rinds, many of these cheeses are quite mellow and mild in taste such as Epoisses and Taleggio. Both taste absolutely nothing like the way they smell…and that’s a good thing…who would eat cheese that tasted like smelly feet???
Washed-Rind Cheeses include Raclette, Morbier, Epoisses, Taleggio, Pont l’Eveque, Livarot, Le Timanoix, Abondance, Bel Gioioso Italico.
Blue Cheeses: These cheeses have distinctive blue or green veining which is created by introducing penicillium roqueforti mold into the milk during the make process. After a short aging, the cheese wheels are pierced, allowing air to enter and activate the bacteria and the growth of the blue veining. This mold adds an easily recognized flavor that ranges from mild to bold and pungent. In Italy these cheeses are called “Gorgonzola”, in France “Bleu” or Roquefort – a protected name and style and in Britain and the US “Blue”.
In this category are Rogue River Blue, Bleu D’Auvergne, Forme d’Ambert, Maytag and Black River Gorgonzola.
Hard/Firm Cheeses: This is a broad category that covers cheeses that may be elastic at room temperature or are hard enough to grate like a Parmesan. Some of the Beemster Premium Goudas fall into this category as do many Cheddars, Swiss-style and Gruyere-style cheeses.
Specific cheeses in the hard category include Beecher’s Flagship Reserve, Comte,Rembrandt Gouda, Parrano, Piave, Grana Padano, Parmigiano-Reggiano,Manchego, Idiazabal, Roth Kase Grand Kru, Emmenthal, Tillamook 2-Year Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar, Beemster XO and Beemster Vlaskaas.
Natural Rind Cheeses: These are cheeses that develop a natural rind during the aging process without the addition of molds and without washing of the rind. Because they age over several weeks, many of these cheeses are made using raw milk. Many “Tomme” style cheese including Tomme de Savoie are in this category. The rind is usually edible but not necessarily tasty and is often gritty – try a nibble before going full steam ahead with the rind.
Other cheeses in this category include Mimolette, Cantalet, Garroxta,English Stilton (also a blue), Shropshire Blue (another blue), Testun and St. Nectaire.
Spun Cheeses: Often called “Pasta Filata”; these cheeses are usually Italian in origin. As the name says, they are cooked and then kneaded (spun). They can be fresh or very hard grating cheeses depending on the producer. The cooking occurs when the curd is exposed to warm water which in turn makes the curd silky and elastic. The softer cheeses are then brined and the harder cheeses are air-dried.
This category includes BelGioioso Burrata, Mozzarella and Scamorza which all have a high moisture content and BelGioiosos Provolone and Caciocovallo with lower moisture content.
(There is a ninth category sometimes included in a list of cheeses but since your humble feline foodie does not consider it cheese, I refuse to really include it here: processed cheese such as Velveeta, “American Cheese” and other cheeses that can withstand a nuclear war…)
In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
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