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Explore Cheeses

Explore cheese varieties from around the world, categorized by texture, milk type, and region.

Pecorino

Pecorino is an Italian hard cheese made from sheep's milk, and its name comes from pecora, the Italian word for sheep. Six main varieties carry PDO status, with Pecorino Romano the best known outside Italy.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Sheep's milk
Texture: Hard

Neufchâtel

Neufchâtel is a soft, slightly crumbly, mold-ripened cheese from the Neufchâtel-en-Bray region of Normandy and one of the oldest cheeses in France. It looks like Camembert but tastes saltier and sharper, has a grainy texture, and is usually sold in …

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Soft
Flavor: Creamy

Chimay

Chimay is a Belgian Trappist cheese made at Baileux, near the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Scourmont in Hainaut. It comes in several styles, including soft versions washed with Chimay Rouge or Bleue beer and a hard Vieux Chimay aged at …

Country: Belgium
Texture: Soft, creamy
Flavor: Slightly bitter from the beer hops, nutty in aged versions

Abondance

Abondance is a semi-hard raw cow's milk cheese from the Haute-Savoie department of France, named after the commune where it is made. A wheel weighs about 10 kg (22 lb), and the cheese has held AOC status since 1990.

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-Hard
Flavor: Savory, yet fruity with an intense "umami" taste

Murazzano

Murazzano is a PDO cheese from the Alta Langa hills in the province of Cuneo, Piedmont. It is made mostly from the milk of a native Langhe sheep breed, with up to 40 percent cow's milk, and can be eaten …

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Sheep's and cow's milk
Texture: Fresh
Flavor: Sweet to savory

Romano

Romano is the North American name for a class of hard, salty cheese made mainly for grating, from cow, goat and/or sheep's milk. It imitates Italian pecorino romano and must hold at least 38% milkfat and under 34% water.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's, goat's or sheep's milk
Texture: Hard
Flavor: Mild, sharp, tangy

Mimolette (Boule de Lille)

Mimolette, or boule de Lille, is a pasteurized cow's milk cheese from around Lille in northern France. It is known for its orange paste, its cantaloupe-like sphere, and a grey rind pitted by the cheese mites that live on it.

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-hard
Flavor: Parmesan-like when young, hazelnut when extra-old

Lor

Lor is an Iranian whey cheese, similar to ricotta but firmer and less creamy. It is made from the whey of sheep's, goat's, or cow's milk with added milk and salt. This cheese is low in fat and mild in …

Country: Iran
Milk Type: Sheep's, goat's or cow's milk
Texture: Soft
Flavor: Slightly sweet cream

Mascarpone

Mascarpone is a soft Italian dairy product made by coagulating cream with acid and heat, without rennet and without aging. Milky white and easy to spread, it is best known as the base of tiramisu.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Soft
Flavor: Buttery to slightly tangy

Butterkase

Butterkase, or Butterkäse, is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese made mostly in Germany. It is known for a buttery, mild taste and a smooth creamy body that slices easily and melts well.

Country: Austria and Germany
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-soft
Flavor: Buttery, mild

Nieheimer Käse

Nieheimer Käse is a low-fat, high-protein sour milk cheese from Nieheim in eastern Westphalia. Its name has been a protected geographical indication since 2010, so only cheese made in the municipality of Nieheim may carry it.

Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-hard
Flavor: Pure, sharp, spicy

Graviera Kritis

Graviera Kritis is the Cretan version of graviera, a hard Greek sheep's milk cheese with protected designation of origin status. It ripens for at least five months and tastes slightly sweet, with a burnt caramel note.

Country: Greece
Milk Type: Sheep's milk, sometimes with goat's milk
Texture: Hard
Flavor: Nutty, Sweet

Rocamadour

Rocamadour is a very small raw goat's milk cheese from southwest France, named after the village of Rocamadour in the Lot. It is soft, creamy and white, weighs about 35 grams, and has carried AOC status since 1996.

Country: France
Milk Type: Goat's milk
Texture: Soft, creamy
Flavor: Mild; becomes stronger

Beacon Fell traditional Lancashire cheese

Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese is a PDO cow's milk cheese made north of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. It is built from two or three days' curd blended together, which gives it a loose, buttery texture and a …

Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-hard
Flavor: Clean and mellow when young, sharp and tangy when mature

Wielkopolski ser smażony

Wielkopolski ser smażony is a Polish raw milk cheese from the Wielkopolska voivodeship, made by ripening pressed curd until it turns glassy and then frying it with butter. It is sold plain or with caraway and has held PGI status …

Milk Type: Not Specified
Texture: Semi-hard, elastic
Flavor: Sharp, distinctive

Esrom

Esrom is a Danish cow's milk cheese, also sold as Danish Port Salut. It is known for a pungent aroma, a full sweet flavour, a waxy yellow-brown rind and small holes scattered through a buttery paste. It is one of …

Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-hard, elastic
Flavor: Mild, acidic, aromatic with hints of surface ripening

Queso Los Beyos

Queso de Los Beyos is a protected geographical indication cheese from the Los Beyos gorge, shared by Ponga and Amieva in Asturias and Oseja de Sajambre in Leon, Spain. It is a small smoked cheese of cow, goat, or sheep …

Milk Type: Cow's, sheep's or goat's milk
Texture: Semi-hard, crumbly
Flavor: Mild (cow’s milk), more intense (sheep’s and goat’s milk)

Emmental de Savoie

Emmental de Savoie is a French cheese from Savoie with EU protected geographical indication status. It belongs to the Emmental family of yellow, medium-hard Swiss-type cheeses known for the natural holes in their paste.

Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-hard
Flavor: Clean, fruity taste

Queso Camerano

Queso Camerano is a goat's milk cheese from the Sierra de los Cameros in La Rioja, Spain, sold fresh, tierno, semi-cured or cured. It is known for the basketwork pattern left by the cilla, the wicker mold it is pressed …

Milk Type: Goat's milk
Texture: Semi-hard
Flavor: Mild, slightly acidic (fresh); stronger, slightly salty, musty (aged)

Quesucos de Liébana

Quesucos de Liébana are small cheeses from the Liébana valley in Cantabria, Spain, made from cow, sheep or goat milk or a mix of the three. They come smoked and unsmoked, with a firm semi-hard paste and a mild, slightly …

Milk Type: Cow's, sheep's and goat's milk
Texture: Semi-hard
Flavor: Mild and milky, with a smoked variant offering a distinct smoky taste

Pérail de Brebis

Pérail de Brebis is a traditional French cheese made from unpasteurized sheep's milk. It has a soft and creamy texture, making it an artisan favorite. The cheese offers a full-flavored and strong taste, characteristic of sheep's milk cheeses. Its aroma …

Country: France
Milk Type: Sheep's milk
Texture: Soft
Flavor: Full-flavored, strong

Toma Piemontese

Toma Piemontese is the Piedmont version of Toma, a cow's milk cheese that runs from soft to semi-hard and melts well. It is the variety that carries protected designation of origin status under EU legislation.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-soft, elastic
Flavor: Mild, sweet / Savory, salty

Allgäuer Emmentaler

Allgäuer Emmentaler is a raw-milk Emmental from the Allgäu region of Germany, protected as a designation of origin since January 1997. It ripens for at least three months and tastes clearly of hazelnut, milder than Swiss Emmentaler.

Country: Germany
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Hard
Flavor: Nutty

Emmental français est-central

Emmental français est-central is a French Emmental from Franche-Comté with PGI status under EU law. It is a medium-hard cow's milk cheese of the Swiss type, recognized by the natural holes in its yellow paste.

Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-hard
Flavor: Clean and fruity

Bleu des Causses

Bleu des Causses is a French blue cheese made from whole cow's milk and ripened three to six months in the limestone caves of the Gorges du Tarn. Many people treat it as a gentler cow's milk counterpart to Roquefort.

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-soft, blue-veined
Flavor: Sweet yet spicy, not too salty or bitter