Mountain Meadow

A hard, Swiss cow's milk cheese (usually unpasteurised) covered with herbs and wild flowers, with a fully edible rind. The Swiss call it bergwiese.

Paneer

Paneer, also known as ponir, is a fresh acid-set cheese common in cuisine of the Indian subcontinent made from full-fat buffalo milk or cow milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting soft cheese made by curdling milk with a fruit- or vegetable-derived acid, such as lemon juice.

The word paneer entered English from the Hindi-Urdu term panīr, which comes from Persian panir 'cheese', which comes from Old Iranian. Armenian panir Azeri pəndir, Bengali ponir, Turkish peynir and Turkmen peýnir, all derived from Persian panir, also refer to cheese of any type.

The origin of paneer is debated. Ancient Indian, Afghan-Iranian and Portuguese origins have been proposed for paneer. One theory is that like the word itself, paneer originated in Persianate lands and spread to the Indian subcontinent under Muslim rule. Paneer, according to this theory, was developed and moulded to suit local tastes under these rulers, and the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire are when paneer as currently known developed. Another theory states that paneer is Afghan in origin and spread to India from the lands that make up Afghanistan

According to others, paneer is indigenous to the north-western part of South Asia and was introduced in India by Afghan and Iranian travellers.

Yet another theory is that the Portuguese may have introduced the technique of "breaking" milk with acid to Bengal in the 17th century.

It is usually fried in apan like halloumi.

Mimolette

Mimolette is a cheese traditionally produced around the city of Lille, France. In France it is also known as Boule de Lille after its city of origin or vieux Hollande because it was originally inspired by the Dutch Edam cheese.

Mimolette has a spherical shape and is similar in appearance to a cantaloupe melon. It normally weighs about 2 kg (app 4.5 pounds) and is made from cow's milk. Its name comes from the French word mi-mou (feminine mi-molle), meaning "semi-soft", which refers to the oily texture of this otherwise hard cheese. The bright orange color of the cheese comes from the natural seasoning, annatto. When used in small amounts, primarily as a food colourant, annatto adds no discernible flavour or aroma. The grey-coloured rind of aged Mimolette is caused by cheese mites that are added to the surface of the cheese. They serve to enhance its flavour.

Mimolette can be consumed at different stages of aging. When younger, its taste resembles that of Parmesan. Many appreciate it most when it is "extra-old" (extra-vieille). At that point, it can become rather hard to chew, and the flesh takes on a hazelnut-like flavour.

It was originally made by the request of Louis XIV, who – in the context of Jean-Baptiste Colbert's mercantilistic policies – was looking for a native French product to replace the then very popular Edam. To make it distinct from Edam, it was first coloured using carrot juice and later seasoned with annatto to give it a distinct orange colour.

The cheese was known to be a favourite of French President Charles de Gaulle.

In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration in the USA detained about a ton of the cheese, putting further imports to the USA on hold. This was because the cheese mites could cause an allergic reaction if consumed in large quantities. The FDA stated that the cheese was above the standard of six mites per cubic inch. The restriction was lifted in 2014.

Mont des Cats

Mont des Cats was originally produced by Trappist monks. They started producing Mont des Cats cheeses in 1890. The cheese is produced using cows milk from local sources and has a fat content of 50%. While maturing for at least two months the cheese is washed with salted water containing a dye called roucou, made from annatto seeds, which gives the rind its characteristic orange colour. The texture of the cheese is smooth and supple, with occasional tiny holes. The flavour is mild with subtle hints of milk and hay.

Maasdam

Maasdam and Leerdammer are very similar. Maasdam is an Emmental-style Dutch cheeses made from cow's milk. Maasdam is aged for at least four weeks. It ripens faster than other cheeses made in the Netherlands. It has internal voids, holes or eyes that appear during the ripening process and a smooth, yellow rind. Sometimes, it is waxed like Gouda. The cheeses were created to compete with Swiss Emmentaler cheeses by being less expensive and quicker to produce. In the process of making a cheese with the same general components as Swiss cheeses, the Dutch ended up with a cheese that is nutty and sweet but softer than Emmental, due to a higher moisture content. Leerdammer was introduced in 1984 by the Baars company. Leerdammer is now made by other Dutch companies under the name Maasdam or Maasdammer. That name was selected to honour the village of Maasdam in the province of South Holland.

Ossau-Iraty

Ossau-Iraty (or Esquirrou) is produced in south-western France, in the Northern Basque country and in Béarn. Its name reflects its geographical location, the Ossau Valley in Béarn and the Irati Forest in the Basque Country.

It has been recognised as an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) product since 1980. It is one of three sheep's milk cheeses granted AOC status in France (the others are Roquefort and Brocciu). It is of ancient origin, traditionally made by the shepherds in the region.

Production techniques are very much old world methods whereby the sheep still graze mountain pastures and provide the milk, which must be from the breeds Basco-Béarnaise, Red-face Manech or Black-face Manech. This is an uncooked cheese made through pressing. When offered as a farm-produced cheese (known as fromage fermier, fromage de ferme or produit fermier), the AOC regulations stipulate that only raw, unpasteurised milk be used.

Historically, production has been:3,067 tonnes (2003) 60 producers (2003) 8 manufacturers: private industries and cooperatives (1998) 2,045 milk producers (1998)

According to the official description, the cheese crust is yellow-orange to grey and the body color ranges from white to cream depending on how it has been matured. It is smooth, creamy and firm and may have some small "eyes".

Leerdammer

Leerdammer is a Dutch semihard cheese made from cow's milk. It has an ageing time around 3–12 months. It has a creamy white texture and was made to be similar in appearance and flavour to Emmental. Its sweet and somewhat nutty flavour becomes more pronounced with age. It also has distinct holes. Advertising campaigns have used the slogan "De lekkerste kaas tussen de gaten" ("the taste is around the holes").

The cheese is produced exclusively by the Bel Group. The Leerdammer name is a trademark of Bel Leerdammer BV. On 22 March 2021, Bel Group announced it was handing over the brand and its related assets to Lactalis in exchange for the shares Lactalis held in Bel Group, bar a retained 0.9% stake.

Leerdammer cheese is produced in Schoonrewoerd in the municipality of Leerdam, the city which gave Leerdammer its name. Generic Leerdammer-style cheese is sold as Maasdam cheese. Groupe Bel has a second factory producing Leerdammer in Dalfsen, in the eastern province of Overijssel. It is also produced in France.

The cheese was developed by Cees Boterkooper, who had owned a small dairy in Schoonrewoerd since 1914, and Bastiaan Baars, who ran a cheese shop in a nearby village. The two met in 1970, and soon afterwards decided to collaborate. They worked on a cheese that could compete with Gouda and Edam. Leerdammer was launched in 1977. It is available in supermarkets throughout Europe, Russia and the US.

Mayfield

Mayfield is an  a semi hard wax coatedEmmental style cheese that is sweet, nutty and creamy. It is made made with full fat pasteurised cow’s milk and is deliciously creamy yet complex, It is matured for 5-7 months to become a delicious creamy yet complex cheese with naturally developed oval shaped holes in its interior, called eyes. Aparently good for melting in fondues, raclettes or just to make cheese on toast that little bit more special.

Made in the heart of the East Sussex countryside by Arthur Alsop and Nic Walker, both cheese makers are highly skilled chefs and both have a lifelong passion for cheese and cheese making. They have allowed cheese making to completely dominate their lives and have developed some truly unique and distinctive products in a small but modern dairy.

Abaty Glas

I am in Aberystwyth and so a trip to Ultra Comedia is part of the deal. This time round I picked up some Abaty Glas (Blue Abbey). Very creamy. I enjoyed it. It is made with unpasteurised organic cows' milk by Roger Yorke of Caws Penhelyg in a nearby micro-dairy. He apparently developed it after having great success with his raw milk Brie. He is one of very few cheesemakers in the UK currently making unpasteurised soft and blue cheeses. Abaty Glas has won awards, including at the Royal Welsh Show in 2023.

Lord London

Made by Arthur Alsop & Nick Walker in the heart of the East Sussex Countryside, this uniquely-shaped cow's milk cheese is a semi-soft, clean-tasting cheese with a natural creaminess and hint of citrus.

Lincolnshire Poacher Vintage

Lincolnshire Poacher is a hard unpasteurised cow's milk cheese that is generally of a cylindrical shape with a rind resembling granite in appearance. It is made at Ulceby Grange Farm in Alford, Lincolnshire, by craft cheesemaker Richard Tagg. The cheese is matured for between 14 and 24 months, depending on when the milk was collected. It has received awards. There is a smoked version.

Apres Soleil

Apres Soleil is a Swiss hard cheese made from raw cow's milk. Unusually, it is matured for 11 months in sunlit caves, giving it an intense nutty flavour and it's own unique character.

Camembert

Camembert is a moist, soft, creamy, surface-ripened cow's milk cheese first made in the late 18th century in Camembert, Normandy, northwest France. It is sometimes compared in look and taste to brie, albeit with a slightly lower butterfat content, typically 20% - 25% by weight.

The first camembert was made from unpasteurised milk, and the AOC variety Camembert de Normandie (approximately 10% of production) is required by law to be made only with unpasteurised milk. Many modern cheesemakers outside of Normandy, however, use pasteurised milk for reasons of safety, compliance with regulations or convenience.

The cheese is made by inoculating warmed cow milk with mesophilic bacteria, then adding rennet and allowing the mixture to coagulate. The curd is then cut into roughly 1 cm (1/2 inch) cubes, salted and transferred to low cylindrical camembert moulds. The moulds are turned every 6-12 hours to allow the whey to drain evenly from the cut curds; after 48 hours, each mould contains a flat, cylindrical, solid cheese mass weighing generally 250 grams (c 9 oz). At this point the fresh cheese is hard, crumbly and bland.

The surface of each cheese is then sprayed with an aqueous suspension of the mould Penicillium camemberti and the cheeses are left to ripen for a legally required minimum of three weeks. This affinage produces the distinctive bloomy, edible rind and characteristic creamy interior texture. Once the cheeses are sufficiently ripe, they are wrapped in paper and may be placed in wooden boxes for transport.

Camembert was reputedly first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, a Normandy farmer, following advice from a priest from Brie. She is credited with having refined a previously existing cheese recipe from the Pays d'Auge region and having launched it into the wider world. She passed her secrets on to her daughter, whose husband, Victor Paynel, presented one of his wife's best cheeses to Napoleon III, who gave to it his royal seal of approval.

The origin of the cheese known today as Camembert is more likely to rest with the beginnings of the industrialisation of the cheesemaking process at the end of the 19th century. In 1890, an engineer, M. Ridel, devised the wooden box that was used to carry the cheese and helped to send it for longer distances, in particular to America, where it became very popular. These boxes are still used today.

Before fungi were understood, the colour of Camembert rind was a matter of chance, most commonly blue-grey, with brown spots. From the early 20th century onwards, the rind has been more commonly pure white, but it was not until the mid-1970s that pure white became standard.

The cheese was famously issued to French troops during World War I, becoming firmly fixed in French popular culture as a result. It has many other roles in French culture, literature, and history. It is now internationally known and many local varieties are made around the world.

The variety named Camembert de Normandie was granted a protected designation of origin in 1992 after the original AOC in 1983. The AOC Camembert can only be made from raw, unpasteurised milk from Normandes cows. Problems with hygiene regulations have caused restrictions on importation and sale in some countries, notably the US; a variant made from pasteurised milk is sold in these territories instead.

Camembert cheese gets its characteristic odour from many compounds. These include diacetyl (buttery flavouring for popcorn), 3-methylbutanal, methional (degradation product of methionine), 1-octen-3-ol and 1-octen-3-one (degradation products of fats), phenethyl acetate, 2-undecanone, δ-decalactone, butyric acid, and isovaleric acid, as well as volatile sulphur compounds such as S-Methyl thioacetate.

Overripe camembert contains an unpleasant, excessive amount of ammonia, which is produced by the same microorganisms required for ripening.

Brie and Camembert are two similar soft cheeses that are both made from cow's milk. Despite their similarities, there are notable differences between them, including their origin, market shape, size and flavour.

Brie originates from the Brie while camembert comes from Normandy. Traditionally, Brie was produced in large wheels measuring either 22.9 cm (9 in) or 36.8 cm (14.5 in) in diameter. As a result, Brie takes longer to ripen compared to the smaller Camembert cheeses. When sold, Brie is typically cut into segments from the larger wheels, although some variations of Brie are sold as small, flat cylinders. Consequently, the sides of Brie segments are not covered by the rind. On the other hand, Camembert is ripened as a small round cheese measuring 10.2 cm (4 in) in diameter by 3.2 cm (1.26 in) in thickness, and it is fully covered by its rind. This difference in size and rind coverage gives Camembert a slightly stronger flavour compared to Brie ripened for the same duration. Once the rind is cut on Camembert, it typically emits a more pungent aroma than Brie.

In terms of taste, Camembert has a stronger, slightly sour, and sometimes chalky flavor. The texture of Camembert is also softer than that of Brie. When warmed, Camembert becomes creamier, while Brie retains more of its structure when heated. These variations contribute to the contrasting characteristics of the two cheeses.

Typically camembert tends to be sold whole in thin, round, wooden containers made from poplar. Modern variations in packaging include cartons and tin cans, with a ring-pull tab for opening (Camembert in metallic boxes does not exist on the French market). The cardboard boxes are reserved for the low-cost camemberts. The product is the same as in the wooden container, wrapped dry in a paper/foil wrapper, and not immersed in brine or oil.

Recently, markets and grocers have introduced a vegan alternative to Camembert cheese which is plant-based.

A similar cheese is produced in Hungary under the same name, the Czech Republic under the name Hermelín and in Slovakia as encián or plesnivec. A Camembert-type cheese is also manufactured in Cornwall and marketed as "Cornish Camembert". Fonterra in New Zealand make a variant called Camembert Log. This is a long cylinder that is about 10 cm (4 in) in diameter and weighs 1 kg (2 lb). Fonterra also make conventional Camembert cheeses under their Mainland, Anchor and Kapiti brand names.