Semi-Soft Cheeses Category

This stringy Mexican cheese melts nicely, so it's great on quesadillas. It is made from goat and cow's milk.

This French cow's milk cheese has a mild, nutty flavor

This is a mild, semi-soft Italian cow's milk cheese that's good with apples, pears, and fruity red wines. It's also shredded and used to make pizza, risotto, and pasta dishes.

This is a soft, stinky cow's milk cheese. German like to put it on rye bread along with some sliced onion, and have it with beer. It's too overpowering to serve with wine.

This is a pungent American washed-rind cow's milk cheese.

This Italian cheese is similar to provolone. This can be made from cow’s milk or sheep’s milk.

This is a mild white Mexican cow's milk cheese.

This mild French cheese is made with a blend of cow and goat milk.

This sheep's milk cheese comes from Corsica.

This Danish cow's milk cheese is semi-soft and only slightly pungent. It's a great melting cheese and a popular ingredient in casseroles.

This Dutch cow's milk cheese has a mild, nutty flavor. Varieties include smoked Gouda, the diminutive baby Gouda, and Goudas flavored with garlic and spices. Goudas are also classed by age. A young Gouda is mild, an aged Gouda = medium Gouda = mature Gouda is more assertive, and an old Gouda = very aged Gouda is downright pungent.

This salty, crumbly cheese from Cyprus stands up well to heat and can even be fried or grilled. It is made with combination of sheep and goat’s milk. Look for it in Middle Eastern markets.

This mild Danish cow's milk cheese is perfect for slicing into sandwiches. It's often flavored with spices and chilies.

This California semi-soft cow's milk cheese resembles Muenster. It has a mild, nondescript flavor, but it's good cheese to slice into sandwiches or melt into casseroles. It also goes by California jack, Monterey jack, Sonoma jack, and Mexican jack, depending on where it was produced. Efforts to boost the flavor have produced Pepper Jack = Jalapeno Jack. Don't confuse this with aged jack, which is a grating cheese.

This is a strong even stinky cow's milk cheese.

This is a mild French semi-soft cow's milk cheese.

This is a mild semi-soft cow's milk cheese from the Lapland region of Finland. It's a good melter and works well in fondues

This is a very stinky and salty German washed rind cow's milk cheese. It's too strong to serve with most wines, so it's often served with beer. Use within a few days after purchasing. For best flavor, serve at room temperature.

This creamy and mild cow's milk cheese has a dark stripe running up the middle, a reference to earlier times when a layer of ash was added to the cheese to protect it from insects. Morbier has a rich, earthy flavor. It's a good melting cheese, but you might want to cook with a cheaper cheese like Lappi or Havarti.

Mozzarella is a soft, white Italian cheese. The most common type is low-moisture mozzarella, which is often sold in bricks or firm balls, or is shredded and sold in bags. Don't confuse it with fresh mozzarella = high-moisture mozzarella, which is a fresh cheese used for salads and appetizers, and is often sold in tubs of water. Low-moisture mozzarella is one of the few cheeses that doesn't turn rubbery or ooze oil if cooked too long or too hot, so it's a key ingredient in pizzas and casseroles. It's also stretchy--the long white strings that you often see draped over the sides of pizza boxes are usually mozzarella. It can also be frozen and thawed without too much damage to its texture. Buffalo milk has a much higher fat content than cow's milk, so buffalo milk mozzarella, or mozzarella di bufalo, is creamier and also more expensive than cow's-milk mozzarella = fior di latte.

When produced in Europe, Muenster is a mild-mannered member of the normally stinky washed-rind Cow's milk cheese family, though it becomes more pungent as it ages. It's delicious with dark breads and beer or Gewurztraminer wine. American muensters are much milder.

This Canadian semi-soft cow's milk cheese has a mild, nutty flavor and melts nicely.

This little-known Basque cheese is made from raw sheep's milk, and it's creamy, nutty, and mellow.

These cheeses are stretched and pulled like taffy before being molded, which gives them a springy, elastic consistency. It is made from cow or buffalo milk. Unlike many cheeses, they stand up well to cooking. This category includes mozzarella, Provolone, Scamorza, string cheese, and Caciocavallo.

This a version of jack cheese with spicy peppers mixed in. It is made from cow's milk.

Port Salut is a mild French semi-soft cow's milk cheese. Don't confuse with Danish Port Salut, which is also called Esrom cheese.

This Italian cow's milk cheese is like mozzarella, only firmer and more flavorful. It's often used in sandwiches and on on pizza. Provolone dolce is aged for up to three months. Provolone Valpadana is aged longer, and has a sharper flavor.

This is a soft mild white cow's milk cheese.

This French semi-soft cow's milk cheese is creamy and mild.

This versatile Danish semi-soft cow's milk cheese is mild and nutty. It is similar to Emmentaler.

This cow's milk cheese is similar to mozzarella or pasta filata, only smaller and firmer. It's often smoked.

This is the smoked version of the Dutch Gouda cow's milk cheese.

This creamy Italian cow's milk cheese is one of the better stinky cheeses--not too tame, not too wild. It's great on crackers or bread, but it's also a good melting cheese and works well in casseroles and even on pizza. The rind is edible, but not to everyone's liking.

This is a good sandwich cheese. It is made from cow's milk.

This soft French cow's milk cheese is rich and buttery. Don't eat the rind.

This is a mild and pleasant French cow's milk cheese that's semi-soft when young, firmer when aged.

This mild Danish cow's milk cheese is great on sandwiches.

This creamy Spanish cheese is a member of the washed rind (a.k.a. stinky) cheese family, but it's mild and subtle.