cheese

Mozzarella, a semi-soft cheese, being produced at a cheese dairy in Sicily, Italy. Mould is added to a semi-soft cheese to give it extra flavour and the cheese has a springy texture. The best mozzarella was originally made from the milk of buffalo, a tradition that is still maintained at some dairies.

A cheese dairy in Sicily, Italy. Ricotta cheese is made in Italy from sheep's milk. Part of the process is to separate the curds (the solids) from the whey (the liquid). Ricotta is so called because it also undergoes a double fermentation (Italian ricotta, meaning ‘re-cooked’).

Food made from the curds (solids) of soured milk from cows, sheep, or goats, separated from the whey (liquid), then salted, put into moulds, and pressed into firm blocks. Cheese is ripened with bacteria or surface fungi, and kept for a time to mature before eating.

There are six main types of cheese. Soft cheeses may be ripe or unripe, and include cottage cheese and high-fat soft cheeses such as Bel Paese, Camembert, and Neufchatel. Semi-hard cheeses are ripened by bacteria (Munster) or by bacteria and surface fungi (Port Salut, Gouda, St Paulin); they may also have penicillin moulds injected into them (Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Blue Stilton, Wensleydale). Hard cheeses are ripened by bacteria, and include Cheddar, Cheshire, and Cucciocavallo; some have large cavities within them, such as Swiss Emmental and Gruyère. Very hard cheeses, such as Parmesan and Spalen, are made with skimmed milk. Processed cheese is made with dried skim-milk powder and additives, and whey cheese is made by heat coagulation of the proteins from whey; examples are Mysost and Primost. In France (from 1980) a cheese has the same appellation controlée status as wine if it is made only in a special defined area – for example, Cantal and Roquefort are appellation controlée cheeses, but not Camembert and Brie, which are made in more than one region.