Styles

There are many different ways of describing types of cheese. International cheese expert Juliet Harbutt favours the rind method as the exterior of a cheese gives a good indication of what’s inside.

“Unlike wine or animals, the character of cheeses can be judged by a glance at their rind," says Juliet Harbutt. "From just a brief encounter you can gauge its texture, taste, strength of flavour and, with a little experience, even the stage of maturity. Using the 'rind' method, you can categorise 90% of all cheeses.”

Fresh cheese:
Fresh cheeses have no time to develop a rind and only a subtle 'lactic', fermenting fruit flavour with a hint of the green pastures. They can be smooth and creamy, mousse-like or crumbly like Feta. Some are wrapped in chestnut leaves, rolled in ash or covered in herbs. Examples include Summerlee, Te Ana. Flat Rock Feta, Bare Island Feta, Caprino Feta, Ricotta, cottage cheese and cream cheese.

Soft white cheeses:
Soft, white cheeses have a white fuzzy rind.The curd retains much of the whey, ensuring the cheese becomes wonderfully soft, almost runny and grows a fuzzy white rind of Penicillin candidum. The best taste of mushrooms sometimes with a hint of sherry! Unpasteurised examples develop a reddish-brown ferment on the rind whereas pasteurised versions have a pure white appearance. Examples include Kidnappers, Pakipaki, Pania, Camembert, Brie and Chevre Log.

Semi-soft cheeses:
There are two styles of semi-soft cheese. The first are those with supple, elastic, sometimes rubbery texture and sweet, buttery to savoury or even meaty in taste. These may have a barely formed rind like Edam or be encouraged to develop a thick, leathery rind encrusted with greyish mould. Othre examples include Tukituki, Pont L'Eveque, St Nectaire and Tomme de Savoie 

Washed rind cheeses:
The second style of semi-soft cheese, known as washed-rind cheese, are rubbed or 'washed' in strong brine to maintain their internal moisture and attract special bacteria that create the characteristic orange sticky rind, strong, piquant flavour and aroma. The texture ranges from slightly chalky when young to rich, smooth and voluptuous when fully mature. Examples include Irongate, Langres, Carre de L'Est and Epoisses.

Hard cheeses:
The exterior of hard cheese is thick, dense rind that is often waxed or oiled. The curd is cut finely then heated in large vats before the whey is drained off. The curd is cut again or even 'milled' before being salted, packed in moulds and firmly pressed. Some cheeses are bathed in brine to seal and protect the cheeses from drying out in the curing cellars.
Well known examples include Kaweka, cheddar, Parmigiano Reggiano, Gruyere and Manchego.

Blue cheeses:
The blue moulds, like Penicillin Roquefort, need oxygen to develop their colour. This is achieved by piercing the young cheese with rods (normally steel); the blue then grows along the tunnel, cracks and trails between the roughly packed curd. Popular examples include Pacifica Blue, Bay View Blue, Port Ahuriri, Stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Maytag Blue and Cashel Blue.

Flavoured cheeses
Increasingly popular, flavoured cheeses offer an alternative to the traditonal cheese noted above. They are often hard or semi-soft cheeses with added flavourings - nuts, fruit, spices and herbs such as Kaweka with Cumin or Stilton with Apricots.

Adapted from Juliet Harbutt’s ‘The Cheese Web’