Cheeeesy World
Every cheese has a story… 😉
There are many varieties of Swiss cheese, which is sort of amazing considering how tiny Switzerland is 😉 Some share an amazing history that is hundreds of years old; others are just beginning to make a name for themselves among today’s contemporary tastes.
Cheeeese is an integral part of Swiss life.
It’s both an everyday food item, and something for a feast. If you’ve ever really wondered where a certain cheese comes from, how it tastes or the best way to enjoy it, then you have landed on a right page “Fondue Wiki” page! 😉
Appenzeller
Appenzeller is a traditional cow’s milk cheese produced in Appenzell region of Switzerland. This cheese is a firm in its texture and has a pale yellow-orange color. It is bathed in a mixture of salt, wine, and spices, which gives it an orange rind that is hard and dry. The flavor of Appenzeller cheese is rich and buttery, which only sharpens with age. Appenzeller is a creamy and pleasantly stinky cheese & gives every Cheese Fondue that special something.
Beaufort
Beaufort is a French semi-firm cheese made with cow’s milk that is a pale yellow to golden yellow color with a hard texture. The natural rough textured rind is a dull burnt orange color. The flavor is very smooth, it is slightly sweet and has a nice texture The cheese is actually a type of gruyere and it is sometimes called Gruyere de Beaufort. It’s a great cheese to melt.
Bleu-The French word for blue 😉
Blue Cheeeese
Blue cheese offers flavors ranging from delicate and only slightly tangy to richly earthy and very sharp. Textures can range from crumbly to readily spreadable. This cheese is easily distinguished by the green-gold marbled interiors. The blue streaks are a result of mold from harmless bacteria that is added during manufacturing. Though all blue cheese shares the basic flavor of Penicillium Roquefort, different milks make them individually distinctive.
Blue cheese can be used to make salad dressing and dips, and works well in pasta dishes, omelets, crepes and soufflés. It can also be served for dessert with fresh fruit.
Brie
Brie is the most popular of all imported French cheeses. This soft-ripened cheese is made with cow’s milk and is covered with a white or blue tinted rind known as a bloomed rind that enhances the flavor to the cheesea. Brie has a soft and slightly runny interior with a mild glossy paste.
Brie should be eaten when it is “affine” or fully ripened. The aroma should be reminiscent of fresh mushrooms and always pleasant. A chalky texture is a sure sign that it was cut before its peak. As with most cheese, brie should always be served at room temperature so its full texture and flavor is allowed to develop.
Brie has its origins in the region of Ile-de-France not far from Paris and can be traced back to the 5th century.
Brie de Meaux is the original cheese from the city of the same name. Protected by an AOP (European Appellation d’Origin Protégée), it is matured for a month before sale. Other notable French Bries come from Melun, Montereau and Coulommiers – the first may be either very fresh and dusted with charcoal or extra-mature. British Brie is made in Cornwall or Somerset.
A slice of fully ripe Brie will be runny at room temperature, and the rind should be springy to the touch. Brie is available all year, but Brie de Meaux, Melun and Montereau are considered to be at their best from May to October, and Brie de Coulommiers from October to April.
Unripe Brie should not be refrigerated, as this will disrupt the maturing process: instead, keep it in a cool place for a few days before consuming.
Cambozola
Cambozola cheese is native to Germany and Austria, Cambozola is basically a combination of Camembert cheese and Gorgonzola cheese, thus the name, which also can be spelled, Cambazola. Soft and spreadable, Cambozola is made from cow’s milk with cream added, which forms a cheese that is rich and creamy. The smooth interior contains a few blue veins running throughout, which gives the otherwise mild and somewhat mellow flavor of the cheese a hint of spiciness. The exterior of the cheese is coated with an outer white mold during production. Cambozola should reach room temperature before serving so that it achieves its optimum flavor.
Camembert
A soft-ripened cow’s milk cheese with a white bloomy rind and a flavor that ranges from mild to distinctively full depending on its age. Camembert has been exclusively produced in Normandy since the end of the 18th century. Similar to brie in texture, authentic “A.O.C.” Camembert’s subtle differences of flavor are indicative of the rich milk produced by the cows that graze on the grasses local to the coastal region of Normandy. Camembert is a gorgeous addition to any cheese plate. Packaged for sale both here and in France in small, round wooden boxes, there are actually societies in France dedicated to collecting the colorful and informative Camembert labels.
The very best Camembert, made in the traditional way, will be labelled Camembert de Normandie Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée au Lait Cru, which means it has been made from unpasteurised milk in a particular region of northern France. Good Camembert is also made in south-west England.
Camembert becomes increasingly soft as it matures, and should be springy to the touch when ripe. It’s available year-round, but AOC Camembert is considered to be at its best from March to October.
Unripe Camembert should not be refrigerated, as this will disrupt the maturing process: keep it in a cool place for a few days before consuming.
Camembert can be served for dessert with apples, grapes and walnuts, or try a classic Parisian fast food lunch— a thin crispy baguette cut in half with ripe Camembert.
Cheddar
Cheddar is an English cheese made from the whole cow’s milk that is widely regarded for its rich, full flavor.The color of the cheese is naturally creamy white, but it becomes the traditional orange color if a substance known as annatto has been added. The flavor of Cheddar cheese ranges from mild and sweet to sharp and tangy, which is a result of the age of the cheese. As Cheddars age, they become more complex in flavor, appearance, texture and aroma. With each passing year of aging, they gradually change from a fresh milky flavor and soft, almost rubbery, texture to classic cheeses that are rich in flavor, crumbly in texture, pleasantly sharp in taste and acidic in aroma.
Cheddar’s trademark sharpness develops at about two years into the aging process, and is due to the increasing concentration of salts and acids that begin to build in the cheese. At about this time, the salts begin to bind to themselves and form small crystals. At about three years of aging, the salts begin to form small granules and by five years the salts can form into small, “crunchy” grains. This is a natural and desirable part of the aging process and it adds to the complexity of the cheese and its flavor appreciation.
Aged Cheddar’s texture should be both dry and crumbly, but still rich, creamy and full bodied. The aroma should be an invitation to the upcoming flavor, but should be clean, pleasant and slightly tingly to the nose.
Suitable fruits to serve with Cheddar are grapes, pineapple, apples, pears, dates and figs.
Comtè
Comtè is an excellent popular French cheese made from the milk of Montbeliard cows, raised in the Franche-Comte region of France. The cheese dates from the time of Charlemagne. It has a mildly sweet, nutty flavor and is a very good melting cheese. Certified with a European A.O.C. ranking, this cheese is brine-cured as it matures. A rough outer rind that is tan to gray in color surrounds a firm-textured interior that has a mildly sweet aroma of fruit or even flowers or grasses of the area in which the cows graze. Nutty to slightly tangy in flavor, Comte cheese is a good choice for snacking or for adding to salads and sandwiches. It is also a good cheese for Cheeeese Fondues.
Cream Cheese
Cream cheese is a type of unripened cheese with a smooth texture and a sweet tangy flavor. It is produced from milk and/or cream and is a very versatile type of cheese. Cream cheese is produced with either whole milk for the traditional version or with skim milk in order to provide a low fat version. The lower fat versions have 30% to 50% less fat than the traditional version, while a nonfat version that is becoming more popular has, as the name implies, zero fat content; however, the flavor and texture of the nonfat version are noticeably different than the traditional version. The nonfat and reduced fat versions are best used as an ingredient in recipes rather than eaten plain or used as a topping.
Other versions of cream cheese that have been enhanced with herbs, spices, or fruit are also available. They are often used as flavorful additions to appetizers and other food dishes. Cream cheese is also available in a whipped version, which is an airy, lighter-textured version of traditional cream cheese. Since it is not as firmly textured and contains less volume than traditional cream cheese, the whipped version is lower in calories and fat content. Another variety of cheese that is often considered to be a type of cream cheese the French Neufchatel cheese, named for the town in France in which it originated. Traditional Neufchatel is made with unpasteurized cow’s milk.
To store cream cheese, refrigerate it and keep it wrapped tightly after opening. Since this type of cheese has a limited shelf life after opening, it should be discarded if mold appears.
Emmentaler = Emmental = Emmenthaler = Emmenthal
Another popular cheese is Emmentaler, the stereotypical “Swiss cheese” with the big holes and has a mild, nutty flavor. It’s an excellent melting cheese, and a key ingredient in many Cheeeesy Fondues. Emmenthaler does make the sauce very stringy and somewhat gooey, which can make it a bit hard to handle. The archetypal Swiss cheese is traditionally made from unpasteurised cows’ milk in both Switzerland and across the border in France. Well-known for the marble-sized holes that dot its pale-yellow interior, it has a mildly nutty, sweet flavour and a firm, silky texture. The large, wheel-shaped cheeses are matured in cellars for an average of 4-6 months, although they can be aged for much longer to give a fuller, richer flavour.
Traditional Swiss Emmentals will have the word ‘Switzerland’ stamped in red across the edge of the rind and is characterized by the large holes found throughout the cheese that grow in size as it ages. If you prefer a stronger flavour, look for the word ‘reservé’ on the label; this indicates an older cheese.
Fontina
Fontina is a traditional Italian cheese made from unpasteurized cow’s milk. It is processed into a pale straw-colored cheese with a firm, creamy texture. It has a slightly nutty and buttery flavor. Fontina cheese originated in Italy, but a similar version is also produced in Denmark. The color of both the Italian and Danish versions is a pale straw yellow and the texture of both is firm but creamy. The flavors are very similar too. Fontina cheese is also produced in other countries besides Italy and Denmark. It is often used in an Italian version of Cheese Fondue.
Fribourgeois
Fribourgeois is a cow’s milk cheese from Switzerland that has a hard texture and a dry natural rind. It has a slightly spicy, savory flavor. It is best suited as a melting fondue cheese.
Goat Cheese
Goat cheese (“chèvre”- from French “goat”) is a pure white cheese made entirely from goat’s milk. If the cheese is a combination of goat and another type of milk, it cannot be labeled as “pur chèvre.” Goat cheese contains higher levels of fat and protein than cow’s milk cheese. Goat cheese is available in round loaves, drum shapes, round patties, log shapes, and a variety of other shapes. The texture ranges from soft and creamy to dry and very firm. It is very flavorful with a slightly sharp or tart and tangy quality. Store refrigerated for several weeks, but when it begins to taste somewhat sour, it should be discarded.
Gorgonzola
Gorgonzola is a creamy pale yellow cheese with streaks of blue veining. It is made from cow’s milk and is named for the town in Italy where it originated. If this cheese is aged for a shorter amount of time – it has a sweet flavor, if let it age for six months or more it results in a strong, sharp flavor and aroma. Gorgonzola goes well with slices of apples or pears & could be crumbled into a Cheese Fondue.
The rind of Gorgonzola Blue cheese has some streaks of blue mold, but overall, there is very little evidence of the abundant blue and green mold common in many of the aged blue cheeses. It is also much milder and sweeter than other blue cheeses, mainly because it is ready when very young. The Many types of blue cheese are allowed to age for six months or more resulting in a strong, sharp flavor and aroma.
Gouda
Gouda is a semi-hard to hard cow’s milk cheese from Holland. Its quality and flavor can vary wildly from the mild, creamy wax-coated lunchbox versions of our youth to those specimens that are hard, crumbly, and deeply flavorful. Long-aged goudas will have a crunchy texture due to crystals of concentrated calcium lactate or and the amino acid tyrosine that form as the cheese loses moisture, just like a good parmesan.
Gruyère
Gruyère is traditional swiss cheese made from unpasteurized cow’s milk that is heat-treated. The flavor of Gruyere is fruity and nutty tasting. After the cheese is produced, it is aged into a firm, dry cheese that is pale yellow in the center and slightly brown around the edges. Gruyere is usually aged 10 up to 12 months before it is sold.
Gruyère is an excellent melting cheese & is used to create plenty of yummy Cheeeesy Fondues Wiki.
Havarti
Havarti cheese originated in Denmark where it is very popular. The cheese has a semisoft, creamy texture and small holes are scattered throughout the cheese. The majority of Havarti cheese is sold as it has aged about 3 months, at this time the flavor is still quite mild. If left to age for longer, the flavor of this cheese becomes much sharper. Havarti is popular as a dessert cheese served with fruit & Wine
Jarlsberg
Jarlsberg is a Norwegian cheese. It’s mild, creamy yellow and has numerous large holes much like those of Swiss Emmental cheese. The texture is also quite similar, but the flavor is a bit sweeter with a more pronounced nutty taste.
Lancashire
Lancashire is a rich, tangy, and crumbly cow’s milk cheese produced in Britain. It’s a good melting cheese. This mild, crumbly-textured white cheese still predominantly produced and consumed in and around the country that gave it its name. It is unique in that it is made with a mixture of curds from two or three days of milking, giving it a distinctive tangy flavour and loose texture. Mass-produced versions, using only a single day’s milk, are also available. Crumbly, or New Lancashire is a mass-produced, very young Lancashire made from a single day’s curd, with a firm texture and acidic flavour. Creamy Lancashire is aged for four to 12 weeks; Tasty Lancashire is 12 to 24 weeks old, and thus stronger in flavour.
Taste our delicious Fondue “Lancashire” or “Lamb’s lettuce Salad with Lancashire, Almonds & Pear” 😉
Mozzarella
Mozzarella originated in Italy (Campania). It is a fresh, creamy, rindless white, pulled-curd cheese.Historically, the cheese was made from the milk of water buffalos (for mozzarella di bufala) and was referred to as Buffalo Cheese, Mozzarella Di Bufala, or smoked as Bufala Provola. Mozzarella made with water buffalo’s milk has a sweeter flavor than the Mozzarella made with cow’s (for mozzarella fior di latte) or goat’s milk. Mozzarella cheese is produced as a semi-soft fresh cheese or as a firm block of cheese made with low-fat or nonfat milk. The curds are heated in warm water and stretched by hand before being rolled into moist balls. The balls of cheese can then either be sold fresh, or packed in a salty brine to add flavor. Fresh and dairy rich, mozzarella is prized for its texture and mild creamy flavor. The longer the cheese ages, the softer and more sour it becomes.
Munster
Munster is a cheese native to France and Germany and is produced from cow’s milk. It is formed into a round block of smooth semi-soft textured cheese. Most Munster is produced using pasteurized milk; however, when it is produced as a farm cheese, unpasteurized milk is used. The sticky rind of the cheese has a yellow-orange color that is derived from repeated brine washings over a two to three month period of aging. The mature cheese has a yellow color, a strong aroma, and a distinctively spicy or tangy taste, which is attributed to the brine washings. The younger aged cheese has a mild flavor.
Parmesan
Parmesan is a well-known semi-hard to hard Italian cheese made from partially skimmed cow’s milk. Parmesan cheese can be purchased as a young cheese or as an aged cheese. The young cheese is aged at least 10 months and is sold in block, flaked, grated, or shredded forms. As a young cheese, it is not as flavorful nor is it as firm as aged Parmesan, but it still has had enough time to age to begin developing a distinctive flavor.
Parmigiano Reggiano
Parmigiano Reggiano cheeeese is produced only in the Italian provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Mantua and Bologna. Only the milk from local cows, whose diet is regulated according to a strict feeding discipline, can be used in the production of the cheese. The cheese is checked by an expert after 12 months; if it passes the test its rind is stamped and it continues aging for an average of 24 month, to develop prime flavors and aromas. In Italy, Parmigiano-Reggiano is more than a grating cheese for pasta: It is part of a fine antipasto and also enjoyed for dessert, with some balsamic vinegar and a glass of fine Wine.
Port Salut
Port Salut originated with Cistercian monks at Notre Dame du Port-du-Salut Abbey at Port-Ringeard, Entrammes (between Laval and Angers), on the Mayenne river in the département of Mayenne in Pays de la Loire, France.
The French Revolution in 1789 forced many clergy and monks to flee France for their lives; the monks at Port Salut were no different. Their head, Dom Augustin de Lestrange, led them to la Valsainte in Switzerland. While they were gone, their lands back in France were sold, and the buildings lay abandoned. Meanwhile, the monks in exile had to have a way of making a living, and they learned how to make cheese. They were able to return to France in 1815, and the abbey at Port-Ringeard was re-acquired. They were the first monastery in France authorized by Louis XVIII to re-establish itself. They continued making the cheese back home, and it was very popular. In 1873, the Abbey sold rights of distribution to a Parisian cheese merchant, and they registered the product name in 1874 — no fools, they. In 1959, the Abbey got out of the business all together, selling all rights to a dairy company called the “Société Anonyme des Fermiers Réunis” , part of the BEL group. Since then, the cheese is not made by the monks at the Abbey, but rather in a factory, and not at Entrammes, but rather far to the east, in the Lorraine region on the border with Germany, making its association with the monastery now merely a historical one.
Roquefort
Roquefort is made from sheep’s milk, Roquefort is a French blue cheese that has a distinctively sweet but tart to salty flavor with a semisoft and crumbly texture. The cheese is creamy white with blue veins running through it and is covered with a white rind. It is the most popular blue-mold cheese throughout the world.
Legend tells that there was a shepherd boy who lived in Southern France who was having a delightful snack consisting of creamy sheep’s milk cheese and bread.
One day the boy was eating his snack in a cave and suddenly he saw a beautiful girl and so smitten was he that he left his meal right there in the cave. He came back to the cave a few months later after he realized he and the girl had nothing in common. So he found his forgotten cheese and the cheese was now riddled with some strange blue-green mold. Still, stricken with heartbreak he decided to end it all by eating this seemingly now poisonous cheese. Rather than the sweet embrace of death he discovered that the cheese was not only not-poisonous, but something delicious and very much worth living for. So was born Roquefort cheeeese 😉
Like in all stories there is some truth in it… The mold used for Roquefort cheese, Penicillium roqueforti, grows naturally in the soil of local caves found in Southern France. Ancient cheesemakers would place loaves of bread on the ground and allow the mold to consume them. The bread would then be partially dried and ground into a powder. This powder was then added to the cheese curd before being aged in these same caves. These days the mold is grown in a laboratory and added to the curd or added via an aerosol method once the cheese has been pierced to allow air flow.
This modern method may be less rural, but it ensures a consistency in the production of Roquefort and consistency is key. Roquefort is an Appellation d’origine contrôlée cheese, meaning the cheese can only be called Roquefort when it is made in a specific region under very exact standards and rules. Any blue that does not come from the Roquefort-sur-Soulzon commune of France can’t be Roquefort. In addition, Roquefort must be made from the milk used from a sheep within 20 days of a lambing. Lacaune, Manech, or Basco-Bearnaise breeds of sheep are the only ones allowed. The milk must be unpasteurized, and the mold must be sourced from the caves in Roquefort.
Roquefort pairs well with sweeter dessert Wines and fresh walnuts.
Tête de Moine
Tête de Moine is also known as Bellelay (a town in Canton of Bern) Tête de Moine translated from French, simply, means “monk’s head” and was originally made by monks . Tête de Moine’s appearance mimics the shaved head of the monks and will be not cut into slices, but shaved across the top. It is a very pungent Swiss cow’s milk cheese. Tête de Moine has a natural light tan to brown and is a semi-firm cheese in texture. Tête de Moine has a strong aroma and a wonderful hearty nutty flavor with a slight fruity overtone. Tête de Moine is accompanied by robust Wines and serves as a great Cheese Fondue
Tilsit
Tilsit is a German cheese made from cow’s milk and is considered to be a semi-hard factory cheese. It has almost yellow crusty rind. The interior, filled with tiny holes, is smooth and soft and has a buttery flavor that may be slightly fruity in taste. Tilsit is a good cheese for grilling, baking and Cheese Fondue thanks to its great melting properties.
Vacherin
Vacherin Cheeses are made from cows milk (vache means cow) and placed in traditional round spruce boxes.. The two principal types are Vacherin de Mont d’Or and Vacherin Fribourgeois (of which there are two types, one for making Fribourg fondue and a dessert cheese vacherin a’ main).
All vacherins have slightly different tastes and textures, according to where and by whom they’re made.
Vacherin Fribourgeois is made in the Valais region of Switzerland – it is semi-hard, with a coarse, greasy brown rind and a pale yellow paste with a scattering of holes. The cheese provides a mild, rich nutty flavor with a distinctivly pungent aroma, a little like Italian fontina. This Cheese is goes well with Gruyère as a Fondue cheese, as it has a great ability to soften and melt at lower temperatures. Vacherin Fribourgeois has a full, distinctive flavor and does not make Fondue stringy. This cheese pairs well with a Red Wines.
Vacherin Mont d’Or and Vacherin du Haut Doubs are essentially the same cheese, but the first is made with pasturised milk on the Swiss side of the Jura mountains and the second with unpasturised milk on the French side. They have a soft, pale brown rind, with deep, wave-like indentations and a yielding texture. They are packed in a circular spruce box, which both flavours the cheese and keeps it in shape (it can be very runny when ripe). The flavour is rich, a little sweet, with grassy undertones.
A seasonal cows’ milk cheese that is made during the winter months in France and Switzerland and packaged in round spruce boxes. When it is fully ripe, after two to three months, the crust of this cheese encases a runny-textured cheese that has a mild, sweet and creamy taste. It’s so soft that, traditionally, it is eaten with a spoon. A vacherin is also a cold dessert made of a ring of meringue filled with ice cream and/or chantilly cream, so-called because its shape and colour are similar to the cheese. Vacherin d’Abondance and Vacherin des Bauges are two other French vacherin cheeses, and are similarly soft and slightly sweet.
Summer Cheeeeses
Brie, Mont St. Benoit, Double Glouster, Raspberry Bellavitano, Roquefort.
Winter Cheeeeses
Manchego, Aged Gouda, Smoked Scottish Applewood Cheddar, Jensen Five Year Cheddar, Stilton.
Dessert Cheeeeses
Havarti, Mango and Ginger Stilton, Dubliner, Vanilla Honey Chevrai, Chocolate cream cheese.
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