Understanding the Different Types of Cheese
For being such a simple food and one of the most ubiquitous in use, a novice cook may come across dozens of types of cheese – and choosing how to divide the dizzying array of options is enough to make your brain curdle. Elements of hardness, softness, moisture content, texture, aging time, production process, flavor, smell, type of milk, and country of origin all impact the final product of the cheesemaking process in a different way.
For brevity's sake, only cheeses made from animal milk – rather than "cheeses" made from nuts, plant proteins, and tapioca starches – will be covered here, so the discussion of whether vegan cheese is really cheese can be shelved for another day.1
There are still many kinds of cheeses made from nearly every type of large mammal milk humans can get their hands on, from donkeys and camels to llamas and naks (that's a female yak to you), so there's plenty of information to slice into here.
Most cheeses you'll see on a restaurant menu can be categorized into a few simple groups, and each contains cheese types that should sound familiar.
A Cheesy Encyclopedia
According to experts, there are anywhere from seven types of cheese to, well, hundreds.2 With all these varieties, blurring of the lines between broad categories is pretty much inevitable, but the cheeses covered here have been largely divided along the axes of age and firmness, fairly universal standards for basic cheese identification. Examples for each cheese type also are listed, so you know what to look for on product labels.
Fresh Soft
Fresh soft cheeses are best recognized by their subtle, milky texture and flavor. Many fresh cheeses straddle the line between sweet and savory, finding themselves equally at home as the base for a creamy, garlic-herb spread, sandwiched between layers of pasta, or piped into a sweet, cheese-filled pastry.
Good examples of fresh, soft cheeses are cream cheese, ricotta, mascarpone, burrata, and chevre log cheese. In the kitchen, cooks will encounter many of these soft, creamy cheeses in recipes spanning from appetizers to entrees to desserts.
These cheeses often are flexible in use and may even be swapped for one another, depending on user preference and the desired taste. If your lasagna recipe calls for a half cup of ricotta but all you have in the fridge is mascarpone, a 1:1 swap may cause subtle changes to the overall flavor of your dish, but it shouldn't ruin the recipe.
Fresh Firm
Similar to fresh soft cheese, fresh firm cheese is minimally aged and is intended to be eaten soon after it's made. With a smooth, light flavor, fresh firm cheeses provide the same subtlety as a fresh soft cheese, with a little bit more structure and texture in each mouthful.
Popular cheeses in this category include brie, mozzarella, cotija, paneer, queso fresco, Neufchatel, and panela. Unlike neighboring fresh soft cheeses, swapping out fresh firm cheeses in a recipe can have a more significant impact and should be undertaken with caution. Mozzarella, for example, is stretchy, moist, and chewy, while brie is thick and melty, and cotija is dry and crumbly.
If you find yourself wrist deep in a recipe calling for cubes of paneer, it's best to do some research before deciding to swap in another cheese from the fresh firm family.
Soft
Like fresh soft options, cheeses in the soft family have a creamy texture and yielding, moldable structure. Unlike their unaged fresh soft counterparts, however, soft cheeses may undergo a wide variety of aging and processing techniques prior to consumption.
To be included in the "soft" category, a cheese simply needs to be soft. Commonly used soft cheeses include camembert, Boursin, brie (yes, brie is in two categories; you were warned that this could get confusing), cottage cheese, feta, gorgonzola, muenster, and pasteurized processed or "American cheese."
Although most cheeses in the soft category are similar in texture, they can vary greatly in scent and flavor, from mild and sweet to bold and stinky.
Semi-soft
Ranging widely in color and flavor, semi-soft cheeses are typified by their thin or non-existent rinds and soft-yet-sliceable consistency. Wonderful for sandwiches and cheese plates, semi-soft cheeses provide a smooth, creamy mouthfeel without the mess and moisture of many softer alternatives.
Popular semi-soft cheeses you may recognize include baby swiss, Butterkase, Colby-Jack, cream Havarti, blue cheese, jack cheese, halloumi, Jarlsberg, Limburger, pepper jack, Roquefort, fontina, and Stilton.
Suitable for sandwiches, flatbreads, casseroles, or simply sliced and eaten alone, semi-soft cheeses encompass an array of flavors and add a creamy texture to many dishes.
Semi-hard
Semi-hard cheeses are distinguished by a moderately dense texture that slices well and strikes a pleasing balance between moist and dry.
Characterized by an aging process that requires the reduction of liquid and typically takes anywhere from 1 to 6 months in total, semi-hard cheeses take slightly more time and effort to produce than many of the options discussed so far. The result of that process, however, is an assortment of rich and complex flavor options that hold their own beside robust tablemates such as red wine, braised meats, crusty bread, and fresh fruit.
Well-known selections from the semi-hard category include cheddar, gruyere, gouda, Babybel, Colby, edam, Monterey Jack, Oaxaca, swiss, provolone, raclette, and white cheddar. Although these savory cheeses have a firm texture that isn't given to melting smoothly, their bold flavors can still be incorporated into a casserole, pasta dish, or soup.
To accomplish this, first grate the cheese and then slowly melt it into a bechamel sauce or other cream-based medium to make a thick and flavorful Mornay sauce.
Hard
Typically aged for several months, and sometimes for several years, hard cheeses have a dense and grainy texture and are characterized by strong flavors and very low moisture content. When working with the intense scent and flavor of hard cheeses, a little goes a long way – which explains why cheeses from this family are often found grated into small amounts and used as a finishing touch for salad, pasta, and soup.
Many types of semi-hard and semi-soft cheeses can also fall into the hard cheese category, if they're aged for an extended period of time. But make no mistake – the differences between a young, mild cheddar and a hard, aged cheddar go far beyond mere moisture content, and selecting a cheese based solely on the name is unreliable if the age of the cheese is not also taken into account.
Recognizable cheeses from the hard cheese category include Parmigiano Reggiano (or parmesan, as it's more commonly known), pecorino, Manchego, aged cheddar, asiago, Emmental, aged fontina, Romano, Wensleydale, and Xynotyro. (Don't bother googling that last one, it's not very well known – just a test to see if you're still paying attention.)
Coming full circle from the fresh, soft cheese category, the bold and pungent flavors and dry texture of many hard cheeses make them good candidates for experimentation in recipes as well. Although parmesan, pecorino, and asiago all have distinct flavors, any one of them can be grated and sprinkled on top of spaghetti or eaten with a Caesar salad without wrecking the flavor profile of the dish.
How to Choose a Cheese
With so many options available, choosing the right cheese for a recipe can seem daunting. But by considering a few basic recipe traits, the overwhelmingly wide world of cheese can be quickly narrowed down to simplify the decision-making process.
- Start with flavor first: will the dish you're making be overwhelmed or complemented by a boldly flavored component? Perhaps a touch of subtlety would help balance a more delicate flavor?
- Consider food textures and the overall appearance of the dish. Would a creamy, smoothly incorporated cheese sauce best serve the dish, or would a scattering of chunky crumbles add visual and gustatory variation to the dining experience?
- Think about how the meal is prepared. Simple cooking processes can have profound effects on food texture and flavor. Different cheeses work best for melting, shredding, crumbling, or toasting.
To help you find the right type of cheese for your recipe, some have been recommended below for popular meals.
Best Cheese for Pizza
To achieve the melty, stringy, chewy texture of a classic cheese pizza from your favorite Italian joint, you'll need to reach for shredded mozzarella. Providing the quintessential pizza-chewing experience, mozzarella not only has a texture that's to die for, but its mild flavor also pairs well with almost any combination of toppings.
For a more adventurous pie, try mixing some shredded cheddar or provolone into your cheese base, or add a sprinkle of crumbled goat cheese, feta, or parmesan on top for a more distinctive punch of flavor.
For true cheese lovers, a quattro formaggi pizza combines four types of cheese to build a complex flavor profile using only cheese for the toppings. Traditionally, a four-cheese pizza would include mozzarella as its base, along with three other Italian cheeses such as gorgonzola, parmesan, and stracchino.
When it comes to pizza, there's really no "wrong" cheese to use, so feel free to experiment as you mix and match your toppings.
Best Cheese for Tacos
As with pizza, tacos can come with a wide variety of cheese, or no cheese at all, depending on the taco.
If you're going for the Taco Night Tuesdays ground beef classic, some shredded mild cheddar should do the trick. For a more authentic flavor, try crumbling some queso fresco, cotija, or Oaxaca cheese atop your meal. If spice is your jam, opting for shredded pepper jack can add a little extra kick to your plate.
For tacos, it's best to choose a fairly mild cheese that's not prone to stringiness or graininess; parmesan, aged cheddar, brie, and gorgonzola are examples of cheeses that are best avoided with this type of dish.
Best Cheese for Salad
As health-conscious eaters the world over know, the right cheese can be your salad's best friend. To sweeten the deal, just about any cheese can be used in a salad, depending on the other toppings you choose to include.
From taco and cobb salads to black'n'bleu, Caesar, and caprese, salads comfortably encompass offerings from every cheese family, and taste pretty good doing it too.
As with pizza, choosing the right cheese for your salad has more to do with the other toppings and the type of dressing you choose to include than the salad itself, so go ahead and get creative.
Best Cheese for Mac & Cheese
The best cheese for macaroni and cheese is actually a blend of cheeses. To achieve a velvety, creamy consistency with a robust cheese flavor, it's best to combine a smooth melting option such as American cheese with a full-flavored partner such as sharp cheddar or Colby Jack.
To really kick your cheese sauce up a notch, try using a bechamel sauce as your base, then mixing in your selected cheeses for a buttery, cheesy flavor explosion that will boost your pasta to the next level.
References
- What in the World is Vegan Cheese, Anyway? Can it Actually Replace 'Real' Cheese?. Organic Authority. Accessed January 2022.
- Different Types of Cheese. Wisconsin Cheese. Accessed January 2022.
