What types of cheese are there

It melts well and adds a savory flavor without overpowering others. The texture is similar to mozzarella, while its taste is strong and salty. Once cooked, it becomes less salty and creamier.

Havarti: Havarti, a semi-soft cheese, has a buttery aroma and taste. It can be sliced, grilled or melted. Jarlsberg: Jarlsberg is a mild, semi-soft cheese that resembles Emmental thanks to its open and irregular holes. This meltable cheese works well in hot dishes, on sandwiches and more. Limburger: Known for its pungent odor, Limburger is a semi-soft cheese with a mild flavor despite its stinky aroma.

The cheese, which softens with age, goes well with dark rye bread and onion. Mascarpone: Mascarpone is a thick, soft cheese with a very high fat content. Known for its smooth, creamy to buttery texture and flavor, it can be used in sweet and savory dishes.

Monterey Jack: Monterey Jack, which has a mild and buttery flavor with a bit of tang, melts well. Mozzarella: Similar to fresh mozzarella, this mozzarella is pulled and kneaded into strands, which contributes to its stretch ability. It melts well and is commonly used on pizza. Muenster: Muenster is a smooth, pale yellow cheese with an orange rind. Its taste can vary from mild and bland to sharp.

Since it melts well, it can be used in sandwiches, on cheeseburgers and more. Neufchatel: This soft, white cheese looks similar to Camembert, but is made in many forms, shapes and sizes.

Unlike similar cheeses, Neufchatel has a grainy texture. Paneer: Paneer is a fresh cheese often used in South Asian Cuisine. Parmesan: Parmesan has a hard, gritty texture and tastes fruity and nutty.

It can be grated over pastas, used in soups and more. As a result, it goes well with quesadillas, hamburgers and more. Provolone: This semi-hard cheese is pale yellow to white and has a sweetish taste.

When bacteria are added to milk, they go to work converting natural sugars in the milk lactose into lactic acid. That lactic acid is part of what gives cheese its distinctive tang. Other bacteria contribute to the formation of complex flavor proteins. Still other bacteria burp up carbon dioxide gas, which creates the telltale holes of Swiss cheese. Different strains of bacteria are used as "starter cultures" to produce different varieties of cheese.

A strain called Lactococcus lactis ssp. Lactobacillus helveticus will give you Swiss. Then there's aging. With semi-hard cheeses, the length of the aging process will determine the hardness of the cheese and the "sharpness" of its flavor profile.

That's because cheese loses moisture as it ages, hardening the cheese and amplifying the natural flavor of the proteins created by the bacterial cultures. This category is reserved for extra-hard, extremely low-moisture cheeses like Parmesan, Machego and Asiago. These cheeses are characterized by their pungent saltiness and rich umami flavor profile. Because of their hardness, these cheeses are often grated over dishes like pasta and soup, not sliced.

Parmesan is a generic name for the original Parmigiano-Reggiano from Italy. To make this classic cheese, large wheels of freshly curdled milk are first soaked in a salt bath for three months, then aged for at least 24 months, but up to three years.

The cheese forms a thick natural rind that's hard on the teeth but is a great addition to soups and stocks. If you notice little crunchy bits in a well-aged, hard cheese, don't fret. Those aren't hunks of salt, says Wright, but cheese crystals that form as a natural byproduct of the slow-aging process. The crystals themselves don't impart any flavor, but they are a sign that bacteria are doing their work breaking down the lactose and amino acids in the cheese, which will result in a more robust flavor.

As any self-respecting cheese-lover will tell you, processed cheese products like Velveeta and Kraft Singles are not cheese. These products contain many of the elements of cheese — milk, milkfat, whey protein, salt, lactic acid — but they are not the result of a traditional cheesemaking process or anything resembling it. And then there are other processed cheeses that contain some amount of real cheese plus additives that improve the product's meltability and shelf life.

Wright is not impressed by any product that has "made with real cheese" on its package. Feta cheese is a fresh cheese made from sheep's or goat's milk that's brined for at least three months to give it its salty, pickled kick. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. What Are the Different Types of Cheese?

Cheeses may be categorized by texture, flavor, age, region and a host of other ways. Camembert left and Brie are both examples of soft-ripened or bloomy rind cheeses. Brie Camembert Cambozola. Havarti Muenster American Jarlsberg chaumes. Limburger taleggio Epoisses Alsatian Munster. Roquefort Stilton Gorgonzola Danish blue. Earlier, it was made using the milk of water buffalos reared in Italy and Bulgaria. The semi-soft Mozzarella is supposed to be consumed fresh, within a few hours of being made from pasteurized or unpasteurized cow or water buffalo milk.

It is quite versatile and can be used in making salads, pizzas, meat and vegetable recipes. In the olden days, it was produced only in England; although it is manufactured and consumed all over the world today. It has a crumbly texture when it is young, but is still largely smooth. As it ages, its texture gets sharper.

It is typically available in the shape of a drum and its color ranges from white to pale yellow. Some Cheddar cheese batches may have orange color added to them, which may alter its color to yellowish-orange. Emmental is usually paired and served with wine and fruits, thanks to its sweet aroma and fruity flavor.

It also has a tinge of acidity to it. Compared to its other counterparts, there are bigger gas holes in this cheese. The formation of such holes during the fermentation process makes it one of the most difficult cheeses to be produced. It has been named after the city of Gouda in the Netherlands.

The different varieties of Gouda are classified on the basis of their age. Graskass is young, while Overjarig is extra-aged and full-flavored. Young Goudas go well with beer, medium ones complement fruity wines, and mature Goudas are best paired with deeply flavored wines like Merlot and Shiraz. Gouda may be served sliced, cubed or melted, and can be used as table cheese or dessert cheese. However, genuine Parmigiano — Reggiano is a protected cheese which can only be produced in Emilia-Romagna and Lombardia in Italy.

It is a hard, dry, flakey cheese, aged for a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of The great thing about it is its caramel-nutty flavor, and the crunch it offers with every bite.