With all of the cooking we’ve done in the past few years, one of the biggest revelations we had is about the value of good, exceptional cheeses. There have been ten cheeses that stood out as exceptional. We still have a lot to learn about this culinary field, but when you come across a wedge that is a winner, it’s a thrill because you add an entirely new flavor to your already existent profile of exceptional cheeses.
10. Red Apple Gouda Cheese
It wasn’t until I discovered the Red Apple Cheese smoked gouda that I really started to value the spirit and significance of cheese. This cheese tastes like autumn — when the leaves are just turning their colors and you can tell someone has lit a fireplace off in the distance as the smokey, wood-burning scent moves down the street. That’s the only way to describe it. It’s the most comforting, nostalgia-inducing cheese I’ve ever tsted and it tastes like an autumn feel. Definitely worth the taste and try.
9. Adelost
Adelost is a Swedish blue cheese that is made from cow’s milk. The blue-gray veins running throughout are a distinctive feature of the cheese. It has sharp, salty and tangy taste to it. The ripening process is for two to three months. The cheese comes in a drum shape with a rind of pale cream, which is lightly dotted with molds.
8. Gornyaltajski Cheese
Gornyaltajski is a popular Cheese that is made from full-fat sheep’s cheese and originates from Russia. There exists another variety, a smoked one, which can stay fresh for longer period of time, and just like Parmesan, is eaten when very hard. I highly recommend that you try these cheese for dessert and even as an appetizer.
7. Burrata:
Burrata, which translates to “buttery” from Italian to English, is a fresh cheese made from a mix of mozzarella and cream. The outer cres is a pasta filata curd made of buffalo and/or cow’s milk mozzarella while the insides contain a soft, doughy, stringy, mixture of curd and fresh cream. The cheese originated in the Apulia region of Italy known for sheep farming and agriculture. It is traditionally bought in asphodel leaves with a polyethylene plastic bag over it. The green color of asphodel leaves will signify the freshness of the cheese. When you cut open a Burrata, it oozes with buttery and creamy panna containing scraps of mozzarella.
6. Tomme Crayeuse
Invented in 1977, this natural-rinded cow milk cheese from the Savoie is a downright spectacular. Its creaminess makes it eat like a brie, but with an earthiness akin to pate or truffles. Mushroomy, eggy, and buttery, there’s a unique flavor and texture to this cheese that I can somehow never seem to tire of. One of my all-time favorites. The trick is to find it when it’s perfectly ripe. The word “Crayeuse” means “chalky” in French and refers to the somewhat chalky center of the cheese.
5.Aged-French-style Goat Cheese
Aging brings a fresh goat milk cheese to entirely new heights. Imbued with geotrichum candidum mold (which gives the rinds of these cheeses a wrinkled, brainy texture), the best versions of this style tend to have chalky interiors, a voluptuous layer of creamy goo beneath the rind, and a firm and entirely edible rind, making each drum an intriguing combination of texture and flavor, nearly three cheeses in one.
4. Comte
There’s one thing you should know about the French and that is that they know how to make their cheese. Comte, which is similar to Gruyere, is the a very popular cheese in France. And unlike some of the cheeses on our list, this one isn’t hard to find: “You can buy Comte in many different supermarkets, and I don’t think you’ll find one that is not good to eat.
3. Hooligan
This cheese smell—in the best way possible. It’s a ripe cheese that is bathed with brine twice-weekly to help spur the growth of its pungent bacteria and reddish orange rind. The makers named it “Hooligan” because it’s a not an easy cheese to make. Many testers praised its creamy texture, nutty flavor, and potency that evolves as you indulge in it. Cheese newbies, beware. “Not for the faint of heart, cheese-wise”. But if you like a test and love trying out new and unusual cuisines, Hooligan may be just for you.
2. Pecorini
This cheese was invented almost 2000 years ago in Ancient Rome. Most of it was made in the region of Latium in Italy. In 1884, the City Council began to prohibit the salting of cheese inside shops, so the majority of the cheese makers took their business to Sardinia. It’s made exclusively from Sardinian sheep. To make it, the cheese is curdled, salted and then pressed into molds, to which it sets. The pressing takes out all the moisture, making it very hard. It’s got a great rich flavour that can enhance any meal where you would have used the ordinary cheese.
1. Gruyère
Gruyere is a type of swiss cheese that got its name from a small village in Switzerland. It is traditional, creamy, unpasteurized, semi-soft cheese. The natural, rusty brown rind is hard, dry and pitted with tiny holes. Slightly grainy, the cheese has a number of different flavors to it. It may taste fruity at first, but become more earthy and nutty as you chew further. It was named the world’s best cheese in 2010 at the World Championship Cheese Contest.
History of Cheese:
Nobody is certain when or where cheese making originated. The practice is closely related to the history of the domestication of milk-producing animals (particularly sheep) which began about 8 – 10,000 years ago. We do know that by the time of the Roman Empire, cheese making had become a widespread and highly-varied process practiced throughout Europe and the Middle East. Of course, as with many cultural innovations; Rome had a hand in further spreading cheese making techniques across its vast empire during its time as a trading super-power. There is also mention of Cheese in ancient Greek mythology and evidence of cheese making has been found on Egyptian tombs. It is interesting to note though, that many of the popular cheeses we eat today (such as Cheddar, Parmesan and Gouda) are relatively new to the cheese making realm.