From Palestine to Africa to South America, Musement shares 17 different types of cheese from around the world.
Cheese is just as emblematic of a country’s gourmet culture as wine. Musement looks at 17 different types of cheese. Coming from around the world, they might just make your taste buds travel! So keep an out for when you’re on the road—or at your local gourmet shop.
1. Brie de Meaux, France
Brie in and of itself might be a dime a dozen, but Brie de Meaux is not. Produced about an hour from Paris, this AOC cheese puts plenty of other brie varieties to shame with a soft and creamy texture coupled with rich nut and mushroom flavors.
2. Mont D’Or/Vacherin, France and Switzerland
Whether you call it Mont D’Or or Vacherin, this cow’s milk cheese is unforgettable. Keep it in its spruce wood case, poke some holes into its jagged rind, inject some garlic cloves, bake in the oven and then slather on to your favorite bread—it’s especially exquisite atop a baguette slice.
3. Stracciatella, Italy
You’re likely familiar with mozzarella and burrata, and stracciatella is in the same family. This pasta filata, or stretched cheese, is a creamy mixture of mozzarella shreds mixed with cream. While it’s sold on its own as such, stracciatella also fills the center of burrata.
4. Paneer, India
You’ll find this soft, unaged, non-melting cheese all around India. It tastes a bit like Greek feta but has the texture of tofu, and it stands up incredibly well to the country’s signature sauces and spice.
5. Halloumi, Cyprus
Though halloumi hails from Cyprus, the cheese plays a prominent part in other Mediterranean cuisines like Lebanese. Generally made from a mix of sheep and goat milk, this semi-hard brined cheese is often grilled or fried.
6. Nabulsi, Palestine
This white brined cheese is named for Nablus, its place of origin in the West Bank. Made usually from sheep’s milk, It’s salty and can be found around the Middle East, including Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Among its purposes, it’s used in knafeh, the wonderful dessert topped with sweet phyllo pastry strands, pistachio, and honey.
7. Manchego, Spain
Produced in the La Mancha region, this PDO cheese is made from sheep’s milk from its eponymous breed. The firm and buttery cheese has complex fruity, and nut flavors, and its yellow-brown rind has a distinct zigzag pattern.
8. Queso Paria, Peru
This Andean cheese is a must-eat when in Peru. This firm white cheese is both creamy and salty and is a veritable delight.
9. Stilton, United Kingdom
This cow-milk cheese is produced in two varieties, blue and non-blue, though the former tends to be the most popular. Semi-soft and crumbly, stilton has a complex, nutty flavor.
10. Baduu/Ayib, Ethiopia
This milk crumbly cottage cheese is often served alongside Ethiopia’s delicious cuisine, pairing perfectly well all the vibrant flavors, spices, and sauces.
11. Gouda, Netherlands
This yellow cow’s milk cheese known for its distinctive red or yellow wax coating dates back to the 12th century. One of the world’s oldest cheeses, Gouda has nutty, aromatic, and creamy characteristics.
12. Casu Marzu, Sardinia
If you’re into food and/or bizarre things, in general, , you probably already know that Sardinians make a cheese with maggots crawling inside it. Casu Marzu is a sheep’s cheese that’s considered a delicacy. Though the little crawlers render it, that doesn’t mean that Sardinians have stopped making it. The cheese is aged without the rind for a few months, which lets the bugs enter and multiply, and their excrement gives the cheese its rich flavor.
13. Feta, Greece
Even if you’ve never been to Greece, you’ve likely had feta cheese as part of Greek salad or Greek omelet at your local diner. This sheep’s milk cheese is crumbly, salty, and grainy, and can be grilled as well as melted.
14. Proveleta, Argentina
Proveleta is an Argentine riff on provolone, a cow’s milk, semi-hard pasta filata cheese. Known as “Argentine pulled-curd Provolone cheese,” proveleta is often enjoyed grilled.
15. Sulguni, Georgia
It’s no secret that Georgia ranks high as a food and wine destination, with plenty of good eats alone in its capital, Tbilisi. Sulguni is a cheese that’s both sour and salty, and therefore nicknamed “pickle cheese.” It’s an essential ingredient of Khachapuri, the famous Georgian cheese-filled, egg-topped flatbread.
16. Cheddar, England
Cheddar cheese is a classic among the British. Originally from the English village of Cheddar, it is now available in different varieties in several countries from the United States to Australia and New Zealand. It is the second most popular cheese in the United States, after mozzarella!
17. Sakura, Japan
Sakura cheese, meaning cherry blossom in Japanese, is a Japanese cheese made from raw sheep’s milk. Its soft paste and natural crust make it look like Camembert cheese, except for one particularity! Indeed, its center, which is lined with an edible cherry leaf, brings a fruity scent and offers an optimal balance between the sweetness, the acidity and the saltiness of the cheese.
Want to please your taste buds? Discover all our cheese tasting activities around the world: