Dairy
Cheese
Cheese is coagulated milk transformed by rennet or acid, drained of whey, and often pressed, salted, and aged into an enormous family of textures and flavours. Species of milk, culture selection, mould, rind treatment, and maturation time create everything from fresh chèvre to granite-hard Grana and pungent washed-rind classics. It is eaten table-ready, melted, grated, fried, or crumbled into cooking. Protected designations, farmhouse methods, and industrial production coexist, making cheese one of the most regionally expressive dairy products in global cuisine.
Also known as: Paneer / Chhena, Jibneh, Bryndza / Tvorog, Brunost / Getost
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Breeds, cuts & preparations
Preparation
Characteristic
CommonCharacteristic
Grading systems
United States — USDA
Grade A · Grade AA · Grade B · Grade C
History
Archaeological sieve residues indicate early cheese-making in Neolithic Europe as a way to store milk nutrients.
Dairy civilisations across the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Central Asia developed regional cheese traditions.
Roman agricultural writers documented rennet coagulation, pressing, and salting techniques foundational to European cheese.
Monastic communities refined aged, blue, and washed-rind cheeses that still define French and Alpine dairying.
Factory cheese production, cheddar blocks, and later pasteurised milk industrialised supply while farmhouse makers persisted.
Appellation systems expanded legal protection for named cheeses, anchoring origin, method, and milk type in law.
Artisan revival, raw-milk debates, and global specialty retail broadened consumer access to traditional and new cheeses.