How to Choose Cheese

Cheese is a favorite food.  Whether we enjoy it on our pizzas, burgers, or sandwiches or enjoy snacking on cheese, it's a popular and healthy food choice.   What many food fans and even cooks don't know is that cheese comes in five basic categories, each suitable for a particular use.

To understand the five categories - not flavors (there are hundreds of those!) - of cheese, it's important to understand how cheese is made.   Cheese begins as milk.   It can be milk from a cow, goat, or sheep.    The milk is heated then natural enzymes and good bacteria are added.   This causes the milk mixture to seperate into liquids and solids or curds and whey.  Little Miss Muffit was eating cheese when that spider scared her away.   Curds are the semi-solids and whey is the liquid part.    Once the whey is removed, the semi-solids or curds are pressed into different shapes.    As the cheese begins to solidify, the cheese is then seasoned and in some cases, it is aged. The five categories of cheese are actually cheese at five different stages.

Fresh cheese is nothing more than drained curds and often still have a milk like taste.  Cream cheese is a fresh cheese and many goat cheeses are sold fresh.   Fresh cheese can be flavored with herbs  or seasonings too.   One of the most common way that fresh cheese is served is on a cracker or spread on bread.   Fresh cheeses have no rind and are always spreadable.

Soft cheeses have been ripened but not aged.   These cheeses usually have a soft, easy to eat rind and a smooth taste.  Texture  is also smooth.    Some of the best known soft cheeses include Brie and Camembert; these are tasty when used in an omelet or baked inside pastries.    They are also delicious spread on crackers.    Another soft cheese is called feta and is often used in salads, added to pastas, and with chicken dishes.