Best Cheeses, Ranked by Popularity
The best cheeses in the world, all 996 of them, ranked by popularity. Start with the full list, then browse our hand-picked lists of the best cheeses by country, texture and use.
The Most Popular Cheeses (page 2)
Number 1 is the most popular. Click any row to learn more about the cheese.
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26
Stilton
Stilton is an English cheese made in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, in a blue version and a white one. The blue kind gets its veins from Penicillium roqueforti. …
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27
Beaufort
Beaufort is a firm raw cow's milk cheese from the Savoie region of the French Alps, part of the gruyère family. Its wheels take a concave shape from …
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28
Blue
Blue cheese is any cheese made with edible mold cultures that form blue-green spots and veins through the paste. It ranges from mild and slightly sweet to salty …
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29
Saint-Nectaire
Saint-Nectaire is a pressed cow's milk cheese from the volcanic hills around the Monts-Dore in Auvergne, France. It ages on rye straw for at least 28 days and …
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30
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 …
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31
Munster
Munster, also called Munster-géromé, is a soft cheese made from raw cow's milk in the Vosges of eastern France. Brine washing during aging leaves it with a moist …
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32
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, …
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33
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 …
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34
Pule
Pule, or magareći sir, is a Serbian cheese made from 60% Balkan donkey milk and 40% goat's milk at the Zasavica Nature Reserve. It is reported to be …
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35
Oscypek
Oscypek is a smoked cheese of salted sheep's milk made only in the Tatra Mountains of Poland, pressed in carved spindle-shaped wooden forms. It holds EU protected designation …
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36
Pecorino Romano
Pecorino Romano is a hard, salty Italian cheese made only from sheep milk, most often grated over pasta. It began in the countryside around Rome and is now …
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37
Comté
Comté is a hard cheese from eastern France, made daily from raw cow's milk in village dairies called fruitières. It holds PDO status, has the largest production of …
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38
Appenzeller
Appenzeller is a hard cow's milk cheese from the Appenzellerland region of northeast Switzerland. Its wheels are washed with a herbal brine as they cure, which builds a …
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39
Edam
Edam is a semi-hard Dutch cheese named after the town of Edam in North Holland, sold in flat-ended spheres under a red wax rind. It hardens rather than …
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40
Tomme
Tomme is a class of cheese made mainly in the French Alps and in Switzerland from cow's, ewe's or goat's milk. Most are made from skimmed milk left …
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41
Maroilles
Maroilles is a cow's milk cheese from northern France, sold in rectangular blocks with a moist orange-red washed rind. It is known for its strong smell and takes …
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42
Gruyère
Gruyère is a hard Swiss cheese from the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura and Bern. It is sweet with a salty edge, creamy and nutty when young, …
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43
Arzúa-Ulloa
Arzúa-Ulloa is a soft cow's milk cheese from Galicia, Spain, protected as Arzúa-A Ulloa PDO. It is known for a thin yellow rind, a creamy pale paste, and …
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44
Mont d'Or
Mont d'Or is a seasonal soft cow's milk cheese from the Jura region of France and Switzerland, wrapped in a band of spruce that gives it its flavor. …
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45
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 …
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46
Danbo
Danbo is a semi-soft aged cow's milk cheese from Denmark, ripened in rectangular blocks under a coat of bacterial culture. It holds EU protected geographical indication status and …
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47
Erzincan Tulum Peyniri
Erzincan Tulum Peyniri is a traditional Turkish cheese from the Erzincan province, made from sheep's, goat's, or cow's milk. It is a type of tulum cheese, aged in …
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48
Minas cheese
Minas cheese is a cow's milk cheese from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, sold fresh as frescal or aged as curado. UNESCO listed it as intangible cultural …
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49
Brie de Meaux
Brie de Meaux is a soft cheese made from raw cow's milk in the Brie region of France, an AOC product since 1980. Wheels run 36 to 37 …
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50
Limburger
Limburger is a washed-rind cow's milk cheese from the Herve area of the old Duchy of Limburg, now part of Belgium. It is known for the powerful smell …
Best Cheeses by Country, Texture and Use
Popularity tells you what people search for. These lists tell you what to buy. Each one is ordered by hand and explains why every cheese made the cut.
