What makes cheeses taste different

In future I will examine each cheese type in more depth: showing how it is made and aged in a little more detail. But for now I have concentrated on how at The Courtyard Dairy we classify cheeses easily for the customer retail and mail order experience. You can view that by clicking here. Find out more fascinating facts about cheese — simply sign up to The Courtyard Dairy monthly newsletter for regular exciting offers and interesting info. Sign up here.

An explanation into the various methods of classifying cheese types by their texture and flavour. They run the gamut from completely inexpensive to fancy, from countries around the world, and from all three of the major types of milk.

By focusing on basic styles of cheese, you'll quickly learn what you like and don't like, so the next time you step into that store, you can at least pretend you're a pro. Special thanks to the folks at Murray's in New York for letting us shoot their beautiful cheese there is, by the way, no finer, less judgmental place to learn the ropes. For each cheese in this list, we'll talk a bit about the following features:.

There are literally thousands of cheeses in the world, and this list is I mean, how could we possibly leave off, say Tomme? Or Pecorino? Or fill-in-another-awesome-cheese here? Country of Origin: France.

Type of milk: Sheep. Aging: At least five months. Tasting Notes: The blue pockets of mold that dot a chunk of Roquefort are colonies of the mold Penicillium roquefort , found naturally in the caves of Roquefort, France. It has a moist, crumbly paste, and a sharp, sweet and nutty flavor from the yeast with distinct grassiness from the sheep's milk. It's best eaten in the fall, when cheese made from early spring milk is just coming to market.

Best Uses: Eaten as is, or with nuts and honey. Country of Origin: France Normandy. Type of milk: Cow. Aging: At least three weeks. Tasting Notes: The outer rind is a layer of penicillium candidum.

Take a look at this fungus under a microscope, and it resembles the tufted head of a dandelion. That's why you'll hear it referred to as a "bloomy rind" cheese occasionally. As one of the most widely produced French cheeses, its quality can vary significantly. Because of their short aging period just over three weeks , you will not find any raw milk Camembert in the U.

Rich, buttery, and spreadable, Camembert has a mild, mushroomy aroma. Best Uses: Eaten as is, on sandwiches, baked in a crust, breaded and deep-fried giddy-up! Country of Origin: Mexico. Aging: At least 3 months.

Tasting Notes: Younger cheeses are mild and salty, somewhat like a young feta. As the cheese ages, it acquires nuttier, tangier flavors and a drier, coarser texture. Best Uses: On tacos, salads, in soups, over rice, on casseroles, over beans, in guacamole, etc. Type of milk: Goat. Aging: Varies. You'll find it sold in vacuum sealed logs, sometimes flavored with herbs, spices, or garlic.

Best Uses: Crumbled in salads, breaded and fried, in sandwiches, in macaroni and cheese. So what are the differences and how are they created? Different cheeses have developed in different regions influenced by their unique culture and environment. There are different cheesemaking techniques, which have developed over time in response to new technologies and changing consumer demand. However, key differences in cheese characteristics can generally be attributed to:.

While all milk is made up of the same basic elements , its composition varies according to:. The moisture content of cheese is one of the most common methods of classifying cheese, and it can vary from very soft to very hard. There are two groups of softer cheeses — unripened and ripened. Unripened cheeses, such as cottage cheese and cream cheese, involve little processing, and their flavour tends to be bland.

Soft, ripened cheeses such as Camembert and Brie have a mould added to the surface, which produces a protein-digesting enzyme. The enzyme breaks down the curd during ripening, creating a runny texture and developing the characteristic flavour. Very hard cheeses such as Parmesan and Romano are aged longer. Pasta Filata cheeses can also be smoked for added flavor.

These cheeses ripen from the outside in, so the inside may be runnier than the outside. The best-known soft-ripened cheeses are Brie and Camembert, both from France. The distinguishing characteristic of these creamy, earthy cheeses is a thin white rind of blooming mold. Yup, mold. During a short aging period, soft-ripened cheeses are exposed to particular strains of mold, like Penicillium camemberti that work from the outside in converting fats into aromatic compounds called ketones.

The ketones created by P. Wright says that soft-ripened cheese, like all cheese, is best eaten at room temperature when the flavor profile is maximized. If it smells too strongly of ammonia, though, toss it out. This category focuses on texture rather than the mechanics of how the cheese is made. What semi-soft cheeses share in common is a short aging period, typically only a few months, which results in a moist, flexible cheese with a creamy consistency. Havarti is a classic semi-soft cheese with a very mild flavor.

Here's where things get exciting. The washed-rind category is responsible for some of the biggest stinkers in the cheese world. The famed and defamed Limburger cheese packs a powerful aroma reminiscent of old sneakers, and that's not a coincidence. The stinkiest washed-rind cheeses are rinsed down twice a week with seawater, beer, wine or liquor for about two months.

Why wash the rind? Wright says the practice began with monks who wanted to keep mold from growing on their cheese. By washing it with brine or beer, they not only killed the mold, but promoted the growth of a bacteria called Brevibacterium linens. But don't be scared off by Limburger and other stinky rind-washed cheeses. This is a fun category. Anybody who's seen the spidery blue veins of a ripe Roquefort or Stilton cheese has wondered, where does that weird blue stuff come from?

The answer, again, is mold. While soft-ripened cheeses like Brie are externally treated with mold, blue cheeses are inoculated with mold internally. The particular strains of mold that make blue-streaked cheese include Penicillium roqueforti , named for a mold common to caves in the region of Roquefort, France.

Interestingly, the blue mold will only grow when exposed to air. When blue cheeses are first pressed into molds, they have pristine white interiors. But at some point in the aging process, the cheesemakers pierce the skin of the wheel, introducing air, which kick-starts the mold-growing process.