Laura Werlin's Cheese Essentials: The Eight Styles of Cheese

the appetizer:

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The Eight Styles of Cheese

by Laura Werlin

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Once you know something about the different styles of cheese, you will begin to be able to discern the basic flavor profiles of specific cheeses even if you have never tasted them. Really! From there, you will be able to make informed cheese-buying choices.

The eight styles are:

Fresh cheeses
Semi-soft cheeses
Soft-ripened cheeses
Surface-ripened cheeses
Semi-hard cheeses
Hard cheeses
Blue cheeses
Washed-rind cheeses

Terms like "semi-hard," "surface-ripened," and so on may not mean anything to you now, but I hope they will begin to make sense once you read more about them in the chapters to come. To give you a head start, here is a chart of the styles of cheese, a brief description, and a list of a few cheeses in each of the styles.

from Laura Werlin's Cheese Essentials
The Eight Styles of Cheese
	Flavors	How Strong?	Examples
Fresh cheeses	mild, milky, tangy	mild	fresh goat cheese, ricotta, mozzarella
Semi-soft cheeses	milky, tangy, sweet	mild	Colby, Havarti, Port-Salut
Soft-ripened cheeses	buttery creamy, mushroomy	mild to medium-strong	Brie, Camembert
Surface-ripened cheeses	creamy, earthy, mushroomy, tangy	mild to medium-strong	LaTur, Le Chevrot, St. Marcellin
Semi-hard cheeses	buttery, earthy, fruity, nutty	medium-strong	cheddar, Gouda, Gruyère
Hard cheeses	caramel candylike, salty, sweet, sharp	medium-strong to strong	Parmigiano-Reggiano, aged Asiago, pecorino
Blue cheeses	floral, musty, salty, pungent	medium-strong to very strong	Maytag Blue, Gorgonzola, Stilton
Washed-rind cheeses	beefy, creamy, gamy, nutty, salty	strong to very strong	aged brick, Epoisses, Munster, Taleggio

from:
Laura Werlin's Cheese Essentials
An Insider's Guide to Buying and Serving Cheese
by Laura Werlin
Stewart, Tabori & Chang 2007
272 pages, Flexibind, US $24.95
Photographs by Maren Caruso
ISBN-10: 1-5847-9627-8
ISBN-13: 9781584796275
Excerpt reprinted by permission.

Buy Laura Werlin's Cheese Essentials