The AnyCheese Holiday Gift Guide

Explore Cheeses

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

Derby

Derby is a mild, semi-firm cow's milk cheese from Derbyshire, England, with a smooth, mellow texture and a buttery flavour. It sits close to Cheddar in taste but stays softer, and its best known version is the sage-flecked Sage Derby.

Country: England and United Kingdom
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-firm, artisan
Flavor: Buttery, mild, sweet

Ġbejna

Ġbejna is a small round cheese from Malta made with sheep milk, salt and rennet. It is sold fresh in its own whey, sundried, salt cured, or coated in crushed black pepper, and it shows up in Maltese soups, pasta …

Country: Malta
Milk Type: Goat's or sheep's milk
Texture: Soft
Flavor: Savory

Castelmagno

Castelmagno is a semi-hard Italian cheese from the Valle Grana in Piedmont, made mainly from whole cow's milk. It holds protected designation of origin status and has been made since at least 1277.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's, goat's and sheep's milk
Texture: Hard, compact, friable
Flavor: Savory, salty

Banon

Banon is an unpasteurized goat cheese from Provence, sold as a small 100 g disc wrapped in chestnut leaves and tied with raffia. It ages about two weeks, gets dipped in eau de vie before wrapping, and has held AOC …

Country: France
Milk Type: Goat's milk
Texture: Soft
Flavor: Mild and intense, with notes of mushrooms and forest floor

Queso Tetilla

Tetilla is a cow's milk cheese from Galicia, Spain, molded into a cone with a nipple-like peak that gives it its name. Soft, creamy and pale yellow, it is a staple of Galician cooking and is often eaten as dessert.

Country: Spain
Milk Type: Cow
Texture: Soft to semi-cured
Flavor: Milky, slightly sour, mildly salty

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: Semisoft; Blue-veined
Flavor: Sweet yet spicy, not too salty or bitter

Brunost

Brunost is a Norwegian whey product made by boiling whey with milk and cream until the milk sugars caramelize. It is brown, sweet and firm enough to slice, and it is eaten like cheese on sandwiches, crispbread and waffles.

Country: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Norway and Sweden
Milk Type: Cow's and goat's milk
Texture: Semi-soft, whey
Flavor: Caramel, sweet

Valençay

Valençay is an unpasteurised goat cheese from the province of Berry in central France, shaped like a truncated pyramid and dusted with charcoal. It tastes fresh and citric when young, and nutty with age.

Country: France
Milk Type: Goat’s milk
Texture: Fresh: fine and creamy; Mature: slightly crumbly
Flavor: Goat, undergrowth, floral hints

Raschera

Raschera is a semi-hard pressed cheese from the province of Cuneo in Italy, made with raw or pasteurized cow milk that may take a little sheep or goat milk. It tastes savory and salty, close to Muenster, and grows sharper …

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: White or ivory with small and sparse eyes, elastic, and consistent
Flavor: Fresh and delicate in fresher cheeses, spicy, savory, and persistent in aged cheeses

Fontina

Fontina is a cow's milk cheese from Italy's Aosta Valley, made there since the 12th century. It runs semisoft to hard, tastes creamy and nutty with earthy, mushroomy notes, and melts well enough to carry a fondue.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Creamy , Smooth
Flavor: Mild, Buttery, Nutty

Charolais

Charolais is a raw goat's milk cheese from the Charolais and Brionnais hills of Burgundy, France. It is one of the largest goat cheeses, sold as a tall barrel-shaped round of 250 to 310 grams, and has carried PDO status …

Country: France
Milk Type: Goat's milk
Texture: Semi-soft
Flavor: Acidic, salty, sweet

Red Leicester

Red Leicester is an English cow's milk cheese from Leicestershire, close to Cheddar but crumblier. Annatto gives it its orange colour, and four to nine months of ageing takes it from mild and mellow to tangy and slightly nutty.

Country: United Kingdom
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Hard, similar to Cheddar but more moist, crumbly
Flavor: Caramel, sweet

Cantal

Cantal is a firm, uncooked cow's milk cheese from the Auvergne region of central France and one of the oldest cheeses in the country. Its tangy, buttery flavor recalls Cheddar and sharpens with age, from the mild jeune to the …

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Firm
Flavor: Varies

Castelo Branco

Castelo Branco is a soft Portuguese cheese made from goat or sheep milk and named after the city of Castelo Branco. It has carried a Protected Designation of Origin since 1996 and runs about 45% fat.

Country: Portugal
Milk Type: Goat's and sheep's milk
Texture: Semisoft to hard
Flavor: Sour, spicy, tangy

Trnič

Trnič is a hard Slovenian cheese made for centuries by shepherds on Velika planina, Mala planina and Gojška planina from sour skimmed milk curd, cream and salt. Shaped by hand and stamped with carved wooden patterns, it was given in …

Country: Slovenia
Milk Type: Cow’s milk
Texture: Hard
Flavor: Salty and slightly acidic

Caciocavallo

Caciocavallo is a stretched-curd cheese from southern Italy, made with sheep's or cow's milk and shaped like a teardrop. It has a hard edible rind and tastes much like the aged provolone of the same region.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Firm to semihard, chewy to crumbly
Flavor: Slightly sweet to sharp, piquant, complex

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

Puzzone di Moena

Puzzone di Moena is a semi-hard Italian PDO cheese made from raw cow's milk in Val di Fassa, Val di Fiemme and Valle di Primiero. Its washed rind is brick red and greasy, and the cheese is known for a …

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow
Texture: Semi-cooked, medium-hard, elastic
Flavor: Strong, intense, slightly salty and/or sharp, with a barely-perceptible bitter aftertaste

Cotija

Cotija is an aged Mexican cheese from the town of Cotija in Michoacán, made by hand from cow's milk. It is white, firm and salty, and it is used crumbled or grated over tacos, soups, salads and elote.

Country: Mexico
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Hard, artisan
Flavor: Salty, strong

Chaource

Chaource is a soft cow's milk cheese from the village of Chaource in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. It has a white Penicillium candidum rind and a slightly crumbly center with a melt-in-the-mouth texture, and it is usually eaten young.

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Soft and creamy
Flavor: Cream, fresh mushrooms

Brie

Brie is a soft cow's milk cheese named after the French region it comes from, pale under a white mould rind. It runs 60 to 75 percent butterfat and tastes creamy, nutty and mushroom-like, with a faint acidity. The rind …

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Buttery , Creamy , Smooth , Soft
Flavor: Nutty, Mushroom

Crescenza

Crescenza, also called stracchino, is an Italian cow's milk cheese from Lombardy, Tuscany, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Liguria. It is eaten very young and known for a rindless, very soft and creamy body with a mild, slightly acidic flavor.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow
Texture: Soft
Flavor: Mild, slightly acidic

Gorgonzola Dolce

Gorgonzola Dolce, or "Sweet Gorgonzola," is the milder form of Gorgonzola cheese, characterized by its soft, spreadable texture and a mild, slightly sweet flavor. It has a creamy consistency with blue veins less pronounced than in Gorgonzola Piccante, making it …

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Soft, blue-veined
Flavor: Nutty, sweet

Bergkäse

Bergkäse, German for mountain cheese, is a group of Alpine cheeses made on mountain pastures and in local dairies. Most are hard or semi-hard with a natural rind, a strong and slightly nutty flavour, and few or no eyes.

Milk Type: Cow
Texture: Hard to semi-hard, sometimes with small holes or cracks
Flavor: Strong, often a bit nutty

Provolone

Provolone is an Italian semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk with a stretched curd. It runs from the very sharp piccante, aged at least four months, to the mild dolce.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-Hard
Flavor: Tangy

Was this page helpful?