Cheese
Classifications: Texture, Covering, Ripening or Cooking Types
There are many ways to classify cheese.
Some classify cheese by the texture of it, whether it's hard or
soft, or by the ripening of it, bacteria or mold. Here are the four
main types of classification groups of cheese and the descriptions
of each.
Explore
the different classes below, and read further for details on notable
cheeses.
Classifications
of Cheese by Texture:
- Hard
Grating Cheeses (Parmesan, Sbrinz)
- Firm/Hard
(Emmental, Cheddar, Provolone)
- Semisoft
(Brick, Muenster, Roquefort, Talleggio)
- Soft
(Camembert, Brie)
- Fresh
(Ricotta, cottage)
- Processed
(smooth cheeses made from mixing several cheeses or adding other
ingredients: American, cheese spreads)
When
choosing varieties for a cheeseboard, a selection of different
textures can be nice. By choosing a cheese by texture only,
many different flavors can be found for each type; for example
Roquefort and Brick may semisoft, but one is crumbly and
a bleu cheese and the other is elastic and slightly sweet.
This is a popular way to classify cheeses.
Classifications
of Cheese by Covering:
- Hard/Leather/Waxed
Rind (larger cheeses, longer maturity, pressed to remove moisture:
Raclette, Gruyère, Gouda)
- Bloomy/Downy
Rind (soft rinds, often 'fuzzy', usually softens with ages:
Brie)
- Natural
Rind (interior is soft to firm with a natural rind that has
a soft gray/blue color or that often changes color with age:
Sainte Maure, Pouligny St. Pierre)
- Saltwater
Washed Rind (saltwater-bath as it ripens: Muenster, Feta)
- Blue
Cheeses (blue/green veined, cheese is cultured with bacteria
to give it its colors: Stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola)
- Fresh
Cheese (no rind, high water content, unripened: fromage
frais, Demi-sel, Ricotta, fresh goat cheese, mascarpone)
Often
cheese will be found with a rind or natural covering. When
looking at a cheeseboard with many varieties and and no
labels, a quick look at the rind will give a clue as to
what is underneath. For example, cheese with a white, soft,
often downy or velvety rind usually holds a soft cheese
with a buttery to tangy taste, often more smooth and runny
as it ages, like Camembert, Brie and Toma Valcuvia.
Classifications
of Cheese by Ripening:
- Bacteria
ripened from outside (Cheddar, Parmesan)
- Bacteria
ripened from inside (Limburger, Liederkranz)
- Mold
ripened from outside (Stilton, Saga Bleu)
- Mold
ripened from inside (St. André, Explorateur)
- Unripened
(Cottage)
Classifications
of Cheese by Cooking Types:
- Cheddar-Style
(golden/white colored, firm, shreds nice, good melting qualities:
Cheddar, Colby, Monterey Jack, Gouda)
- Swiss-Style
(white/cream colored, tangy, firm, shreds nice: Swiss, Jarlsburg,
Gruyère, Emmentaler)
- Parmesan-Style
(hard to very hard, nutty in flavor, grates nice: Parmigiano
Reggiano, Pecorino, Romano, Asiago)
- Bleu
Cheese-Style (crumbly, sharp to smooth in flavor: Gorgonzola,
Stilton, Bleu d'Avergne, Roquefort)
- Ricotta-Style
(soft, high in water, mild flavor: Ricotta, cottage cheeses)
- Cream
Cheese-Style (soft, used for spreading or incorporating: cream
cheese, Neufchâtel, some fresh goat cheeses)
- Mozzarella-Style
(soft or stringy, used for pizzas/nachos: Mozzarella, Oaxaca,
string cheeses)
As
far as cooking and baking cheeses, the seven basic types are
cheddar-style, Swiss-style, Parmesan-style, bleu cheese-style,
ricotta-style, cream-cheese style and mozzarella cheeses.
Any cheese in the different styles can be interchanged as
needed, for example, in the bleu cheese-style, a basic blue
and Roquefort can be used interchangeably, although there
will be some notable highlight differences between the two.
When grating for pasta dishes, Asiago and Parmesan can be
used in place of the other if one is not available.
Read
more for a listing
of different cheeses with details and taste highlights.
Many of them are pictured making it easy to identify when looking
for the cheese. Pictures come courtesy of pdphoto.org. Other details
from my own tasting notes have been included. Varieties listed alphabetically
for easy reference.
Cheese Definition, Aging and
Classing
Cheese
Description and Picture Guide
Above pictures: Courtesy of PDphoto.org.
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