Sakura

Japan may not exactly be known for its wide variety of artisanal dairy products, but there’s one cheese that shines like a beacon from the land of the rising sun: Sakura Cheese. A cow’s milk cheese that’s creamy with an optimal balance of sweet, sour, and salty, Sakura Cheese is infused with cherry blossoms (hence […]

Livarot

Livarot is a French cheese of the Normandy region, originating in the commune of Livarot. It is a soft, pungent, washed-rind cheese made from cow’s milk. The normal weight for a round of Livarot is 450 g, though it also comes in other weights. It is sold in cylindrical form with the orangish rind wrapped in 3 to 5 rings of dried […]

Camembert

Camembert is a soft cows’ milk cheese with a furry white rind speckled with beige, and a creamy, pale interior which becomes increasingly yellow as the cheese matures. The best examples are usually made from raw milk, but most mass-produced camemberts are now pasteurised. When fully ripe, camembert has a pungent, strongly-flavoured and runny interior somewhat […]

Robiola

Robiola is an Italian soft-ripened cheese of the Stracchino family. It is from the Langhe region and made with varying proportions of cow’s, goat’s milk and sheep milk. One theory is that the cheese gets its name from the town of Robbio in the province of Pavia; another that the name comes from the word rubeole (ruddy) because of the color […]

Boursault

Boursault (pronounced Boor-soh) is a unique, soft-ripened, triple-cream cheese, produced in the Loire Valley of France. Named in the 1950’s after its inventor Henri Boursault, it is still one of the most popular triple-creams today, due to its ultra creamy texture, and rich flavors. Boursault is one of the most versatile cheeses: it can be […]

Monterey Jack

Very mild and buttery in flavor with a bit of tang, Monterey Jack is one of the few all-American cheeses. Because of its young age and relatively high butterfat content, it’s a great melter. It often comes mixed with hot pickled peppers to make Pepper Jack cheese. Melted in casseroles, grilled cheese, over chili, cheese dip, […]

Brie

One of the world’s best-known soft cheeses, Brie originated in north-east France, but is now made all over the world, including in southern England. The large, flat wheels of cheese have a white, downy rind and a pale, mildly flavoured interior that is chalky when young, becoming increasingly runny as the cheese matures. Made from […]

Taleggio

At over a thousand years old, Taleggio is one of the world’s oldest soft cheeses. This washed-rind cheese is in a family of cheeses created by monks who made cheese from the milk of their grazing cows in order to eliminate waste. The story is that the monks repeatedly washed the wheels clean of any […]

Dolcelatte

Literally ‘sweet milk’ in Italian, this soft, blue-veined cows’ milk cheese from Lombardy was developed as a milder version of traditional Gorgonzola (hence it’s also sometimes known as Gorgonzola Dolce). It’s renowned for its soft, creamy flavour. Credits: BBC Food

Mascarpone

A thick, creamy, soft Italian cheese with a high fat content (40%). Mascarpone is an essential ingredient in the Italian coffee trifle tiramisù and is great in cheesecakes. Credits: BBC Food