The AnyCheese Holiday Gift Guide

Explore Cheeses

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

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

Caciotta

Caciotta is an Italian cheese made from cow, sheep, goat, or water buffalo milk. It ripens for a short time and comes in small cylindrical wheels with a soft yellow rind, a pale body, and a mild flavor.

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Cow's, goat's, sheep's or water buffalo's milk
Texture: Semi-soft, artisan
Flavor: Mild

Raclette

Raclette is a Swiss cheese and the dish made from it: the cheese is heated and the melted part is scraped off, usually onto boiled potatoes. It comes from the canton of Valais, where the cheese carries an AOP.

Country: Switzerland
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semisoft, smooth
Flavor: Mildly acidic

Jarlsberg

Jarlsberg is a mild Swiss-type cheese from Norway, made from cow's milk and named after Jarlsberg Manor. It is known for its buttery, slightly sweet and nutty flavor and its medium to large holes.

Country: Norway
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semihard
Flavor: Mild, sweet, nutty

Strachitunt

Strachitunt is a raw cow's milk cheese from Val Taleggio, in the Bergamo province of Lombardy, made by layering a cold evening curd with a warm morning one. It has held PDO status since 2014, and its blue veining forms …

Country: Italy
Milk Type: Full-fat raw milk from Bruna Alpina cows
Texture: Creamy
Flavor: Sweet and fruity

Washed Rind

Washed-rind cheese, also called smear-ripened, is cured over and over with brine or mold-bearing agents as it ripens. That feeds Brevibacterium linens on the surface, which gives the cheese its pungent smell, firm rind and distinctive flavor.

Texture: Soft to hard
Flavor: Pungent, distinctive

White Leicester

White Leicester, also known as Leicester or Leicestershire cheese, is similar to Red Leicester but lacks the annatto coloring, resulting in a natural pale color. It has a firm texture and a rich, mellow, nutty flavor. This cheese is excellent …

Country: United Kingdom

Abbaye de Belloc

Abbaye de Belloc is a semi-hard cheese from the Pays Basque in the French Pyrenees, made from unpasteurized Manech ewe milk and aged 6 weeks to 6 months. It is known for a nutty, caramelized flavor and a lanolin aroma.

Country: France
Milk Type: Sheep's milk
Texture: Semi-hard, artisan
Flavor: Burnt caramel

Selles-sur-Cher

Selles-sur-Cher is a goat milk cheese from Centre-Val de Loire, France, first made in the 19th century in the commune it is named for. It comes as a small charcoal-dusted cylinder of about 150 g, known for its grey-blue mould …

Country: France
Milk Type: Whole goat’s milk
Texture: Fine and firm
Flavor: Fresh, hazelnut

Cabrales

Cabrales is a blue cheese made by rural dairy farmers in the Asturias mountains of Spain, from raw cow's milk alone or blended with goat and sheep milk. It is known for its strong, sometimes sharply acidic flavor and for …

Country: Spain
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Unctuous, compact, no eyes
Flavor: Intense, piquant

Lietuviškas varškės sūris

Lietuviškas varškės sūris is a soft cow's milk curd cheese made in Lithuania and shaped into a triangular prism with rounded corners. It has been produced since the Middle Ages and joined the European Union list of protected products in …

Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Soft, homogeneous, rather dense, may crumble when cut (fresh); homogeneous, dense, a little elastic (baked); homogeneous, dense, crumbly (smoked); homogeneous, hard, difficult to cut, crumbles when broken (dried)
Flavor: Characteristic lactic acid with hints of seasonings

Queijo da Beira Baixa

Queijo da Beira Baixa is a Portuguese raw-milk cheese made from sheep milk, goat milk or a blend of both, sold as Amarelo, Castelo Branco or Picante. It has a protected designation of origin and an intense, clean flavor that …

Milk Type: Sheep and Goat
Texture: Semi-hard, semi-soft, hard, or very hard (depending on type)
Flavor: Intense, clean, slightly acidic, spicy, and salty (depending on type)

Abbaye de Tamié

Abbaye de Tamié is a soft cheese made from unpasteurised cow's milk by the monks of Tamié Abbey in Savoie, in the French Alps. It is close in style to Reblochon, with a saffron crust dusted in white down and …

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Soft
Flavor: Nutty, milky, delicate to strong with age

Queso Fresco

Queso fresco is a fresh cow's milk cheese made by curdling and draining milk with little other processing. Soft, mild and crumbly, it is a staple of Latin American cooking and is eaten within days of being made.

Country: Mexico
Milk Type: Cow
Texture: Soft, crumbly
Flavor: Mild, Tangy

Langres

Langres is a cow's milk cheese from the plateau of Langres in Champagne-Ardenne, France. It is a small cylinder with a Penicillium candidum rind tinted orange by annatto, known for the concave dent in its top called the fontaine.

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semisoft
Flavor: Creamy, nutty

Bandel

Bandel is a fresh, salted cow's milk cheese from Bandel in eastern India, introduced by the Portuguese around 500 years ago. It is sold in small circular flats, plain or smoked, and known for its dry, crumbly body and smoky …

Country: India
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Crumbly
Flavor: Mild and slightly salty

Urdă

Urdă is a whey cheese made across Southeast Europe and in Hungary by boiling the whey drained from other cheeses. The paste is finely grained and silky, and most of it ends up in desserts and filled pastries.

Country: Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine
Milk Type: Cow's, goat's or sheep's milk
Texture: Creamy, delicate
Flavor: High quality

Camembert de Normandie

Camembert de Normandie is the AOC version of Camembert, a soft, surface-ripened cow's milk cheese from Normandy in northwest France. The rules require raw milk from Normande cows, and each small round is covered by a bloomy white rind.

Country: France
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Young: Narrow unripe core; Aged: Homogeneous, sticky
Flavor: Young: Lactic, tangy, sweet; Aged: Pungent, mushroom, garlic

Leerdammer

Leerdammer is a Dutch semi-hard cow's milk cheese with distinct holes and a sweet, nutty flavor. Launched in 1977, it was built to match Emmental in look and taste, and it ages about 3 to 12 months.

Country: Netherlands
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-hard
Flavor: Mild, nutty, sweet

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

Zázrivský korbáčik

Korbáčik is a Slovak cheese made by pulling steamed curd into thin strands and plaiting them into a small whip. It is sold in brine, either smoked or unsmoked, and the Zázrivá and Orava versions hold EU protected names.

Milk Type: Cow
Texture: Stringy, elastic
Flavor: Savory, mildly acidic

Boeren-Leidse met sleutels

Boeren-Leidse met sleutels is a Dutch cow's milk cheese flavored with cumin and caraway seed, made from the semi-skimmed milk left over from butter making. It carries the crossed keys of Leiden and a red annatto-colored rind.

Country: Netherlands
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Hard and salty
Flavor: Sweetness from cumin seeds

Stichelton

Stichelton is an English blue cheese made in Nottinghamshire from unpasteurised cow's milk and calf rennet. It is made the way Blue Stilton once was, but since Stilton's protected status requires pasteurised milk, it took an older spelling of the …

Country: England, Great Britain and United Kingdom
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Texture: Semi-Soft
Flavor: Complex

Swaledale

Swaledale is a full fat hard cheese from Richmond in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, made with unpasteurised cow, sheep or goat milk. It is known for its moist medium firm texture and a rind of grey-blue mould or natural wax.

Country: England
Milk Type: Cow, sheep, goat
Texture: Moist, medium firm

Paneer

Paneer is a fresh, non-aged cheese from South Asia, made by curdling cow or buffalo milk with acid instead of rennet. It does not melt, so it holds its shape in curries, fritters and skewered dishes like paneer tikka.

Country: Bangladesh and India
Milk Type: Cow's or water buffalo's milk
Texture: Semisoft, crumbly
Flavor: Mild, slightly milky

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