Everything You Need to Know About Soft Cheese

There are many types of cheese we use in our daily lives. Cheese can mainly differ into two kinds: soft cheese and hard cheese.

We’ve explained what is hard cheese in our former post, and in this post I’ll introduce what soft cheese is and how to cook them.

What is Soft Cheese

A soft cheese is any young or fresh cheese with a high moisture content that makes it soft enough to spread. Unripened soft cheeses taste milky and mild, whereas ripened soft cheeses are aged for a few weeks so that mold can develop inside the cheese and add flavor.

Making Soft Cheeses

The process of making soft cheeses differs from making “hard cheeses” in that the curds aren’t pressed to squeeze out the whey, as they would be for instance in making a hard cheese such as Since they contain a lot of moisture, like Cheddar, mold can flourish there easily. You don’t want to see green mould growing on top of the unripened ones, like when you open a tub of cottage cheese or quark in the morning, but this is how the ripened soft cheeses, like Camembert or Brie, are made.

Soft cheeses must be aged for a few weeks in order to mature. Since unripened soft cheeses are the easiest to make, anyone who lives on a farm or in the country could do it with little effort or training. Unripened soft cheeses are also simply called “fresh cheeses.”

Ripening takes place in humid conditions.

Soft cheeses that have been ripened are typically of continental European origin, whereas unripened soft cheeses have historically been more prevalent in British and North American soft cheeses.

Soft cheeses can be made with whole or skim milk, from cows, goats, or sheep. Additionally, cream is often used to enrich soft cheeses. Traditionally, the milk was allowed to naturally soure, but with pasteurized milk, starters must be added.

Fat Content of Soft Cheeses

The amount of fat in soft cheeses varies greatly from one type of cheese to another.

• Full Fat Soft Cheese: minimum 20% fat, maximum 60% moisture
• Medium Fat Soft Cheese: fat content from 2 to 20%, maximum 70% moisture
• Skim Milk Soft Cheese: maximum 2% fat content, maximum 80% moisture

Cooking Tips

“Cheesecake and Danish pastries call for a very tender texture, which is provided by soft cheeses with a very high water content, like cream and curd cheeses.”

Soft Cheese as a Recipe Ingredient

Typically used in the UK, the term “soft cheese” refers to an ingredient in a recipe. The author of the recipe isn’t picky; all they want is a soft cheese of some kind. In the UK and North America, cottage cheese is the preferred variety of soft cheese. Curd cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, quark, pot cheese, and the soft variety of hoop cheese also count as generic “soft cheese.” All of these would satisfy the recipe’s requirement for a “soft cheese.”

SOFT CHEESES Examples

Blue Cheese

The bluish-green mold veins in blue cheese, as its name suggests, set it apart from other varieties of cheese. The most widely consumed blue cheeses are the French Roquefort, English Stilton, and Italian Gorgonzola.

Blue cheese is renowned for having a very crumbly, soft texture as well as a very zingy, sharp flavor. This cheese can taste extremely salty when consumed raw or in large quantities.

The fact that bacteria and mold are allowed to grow on the cheese is what primarily causes the distinctive smell and flavor.

Blue cheese comes in two main varieties: Roquefort and Gorgonzola.

Boursin

With a crumbly, creamy texture akin to cream cheese, this cheese is also produced from pasteurized cow’s milk.

It comes in a wide range of flavors that are frequently infused with herbs and spices. Its most well-liked flavors include cranberry and spice, red chili pepper, pepper, basil and chive, maple bourbon, and pepper.

François Boursin, a cheese maker in Normandy, developed the original Boursin cheese flavor, Garlic and Fine Herbs, in 1957. The inspiration behind the creation of the cheese came from “fromage frais,” a traditional party dish in which people take cheese and add herbs for flavor.

For a cheese dip to serve with fruits and vegetables, Boursin Cheese is a fantastic option thanks to its savory-sweet flavor.

Cottage Cheese

Having a very mild flavor and a creamy consistency, cottage cheese is a soft, fresh cheese. It is made from the curds that remain in pasteurized cow’s milk, though it can also be made using other types of milk.

It’s interesting to note that because cottage cheese has a lot of protein, it was heavily promoted as a great meat substitute during World War I. Additionally, it contains fewer calories than a lot of other kinds of cheese, which makes it a very healthy type of cheese.

Cream Cheese

William A. is a dairy farmer in New York state. In 1872, Chester is acknowledged as having produced the first batch of cream cheese. The soft cheese’s mild flavor and buttery soft texture are a result of its cream and milk composition.

Most people don’t think of cream cheese as an actual “cheese”, but it is, in fact, a very rich kind of cheese that is also easy to make at home. It is widely and frequently used as a spread for bagels, crackers, various kinds of bread, etc.

Both savory and sweet foods can be paired with cream cheese, which also works well as a cheesecake filling and as a dip for snacks.

Brie

This well-known French cheese, which is made from cow’s milk, has a light color with a hint of gray underneath a layer of moldy white. Brie cheese is a soft, spreadable cheese that goes well with many different foods because of its incredibly buttery texture.

Brie is produced in many different forms around the globe, some of which include herbed varieties, plain brie, double, and triple brie.

Brie takes a year or more to mature, giving the cheese a strong flavor and taste.

Buffalo Mozzarella

Also called “Mozzarella di Bufala” in Italian buffalo mozzarella is made from the milk of Italian Mediterranean mozzarella, which comes from Campania, Italy, and the regions of Salerno and Caserta.

This cheese belongs to the “pasta filata” family and has quite a fresh, moist, and semi-elastic texture. Because it is made from buffalo milk, unlike most cheese, it is high in calcium, protein, and has lower cholesterol.

The word ‘mozzarella’ comes from ‘mozzare’ which is a process that literally means “cutting by hand”, followed by a separation of the curd and serving the cheese in individual shapes.

This process makes the buffalo mozzarella cheese quite versatile and elastic in texture, two qualities that gave it unique names like “the Queen of the Mediterranean cuisine”, “the pearl of the table” and “white gold”.

Feta Cheese

Greek feta is a brined, soft cheese frequently made from a blend of sheep and goat milk. The official name Feta can only be used for cheese made in accordance with tradition in mainland Greece and the islands of Lesbos Prefecture, according to EU law. Feta is widely used outside of the EU in a variety of different ways.

The crumbly, aged cheese is ideal for pizzas, flatbreads, and salads because of its salty, tangy flavor.

Conclusion

S soft cheese is a cheese with a good deal of moisture in it, keeping its texture so soft that it is usually spreadable. Soft cheese includes many kinds of cheese such as cream cheese, feta cheese and cottage cheese.

FAQs