White Cheese

What is White Cheese?

White cheese is a category, not one recipe. Cheesemakers in many regions invented their own versions, and the only thing all of them share is the white color. In Latin America it goes by queso blanco or queijo branco, in Turkey beyaz peynir, in France and Belgium fromage blanc, in the Philippines kesong puti, and across Bulgaria, North Macedonia and the rest of the Balkans sirene.

The Latin American style is one of the simplest cheeses to make. Whole fresh milk is heated to near boiling, an acid such as vinegar is stirred in until curds form, and the curds drain in cheesecloth for three to five hours. No rennet or bacterial culture is needed. Because the curds hang in a cloth bag, these are also called bag cheeses. They spoil fast, so they go into the refrigerator or straight onto the plate. In the Middle East, where refrigeration was long out of reach, most white cheese is packed in salty brine instead, and cooks often soak it in water to draw the salt back out before eating.

Texture covers a lot of ground. Some versions are soft and fresh, like Portuguese queijo fresco or Greek manouri. Others are firm and salty, like Dominican and Puerto Rican queso blanco, or the hard Venezuelan llanero. Mexican queso blanco pressed to remove more water becomes queso seco. Most types soften rather than melt when heated, though Oaxaca cheese melts properly and halloumi turns elastic.

Cooks use it both raw and cooked. It is crumbled over soups and salads, spooned onto enchiladas and empanadas, melted into quesadillas, grated over pasta and the Venezuelan dish pabellón, and stuffed into arepas and cachapas. Firm types are fried whole as queso frito. In Puerto Rico it is served with guava paste, in Peru it is blended with spices into a cold sauce for boiled potatoes, and in some places it goes into cheesecake.