Sweet and caramel
Caramel and brown butter: aged Gouda, brunost, Parmigiano crystals and Mimolette.
Some cheeses taste distinctly sweet, of caramel, butterscotch, brown butter or toffee. In a few the sweetness is real sugar, as in brunost, made by boiling whey until its milk sugar caramelises. In most it comes from long ageing, as in old Gouda, Mimolette and Parmigiano Reggiano, where breakdown products and crystals give a sweet, savoury depth. And the fresh cheese in Indian sweets carries the sugar of its syrup.
Caramel from whey
Brunost and the other Scandinavian whey cheeses, such as mysost and the spreadable prim, are cooked for hours until the lactose in the whey browns, as milk sugar and proteins react in the heat. The result tastes of fudge and dulce de leche, with a sour, goaty edge in geitost. India's khoa, milk reduced slowly in an open pan until it is a thick paste, is a close relative in method, though it is not a cheese, and it is the base of many sweets alongside chhena.
Old Gouda and Mimolette
Gouda aged for two years or more turns hard and deep amber, with crunchy crystals and a flavour of butterscotch and toasted nuts. Dutch cheesemakers sell it as oude, old, and overjarig, over a year. Mimolette, the orange ball cheese of the Lille area, coloured with annatto, is aged with cheese mites that leave its rind rough and cratered, and old Mimolette tastes of hazelnut and caramel. Long-aged Parmigiano Reggiano and Comté have a similar sweetness behind their savoury depth.
Sweet with fresh cheese
Many of the world's sweets are made from fresh cheese. Chhena is shaped and cooked in syrup for rasgulla, baked with sugar and semolina for chhena poda, and cooked with sugar for sandesh. Ricotta fills Sicilian cannoli and cassata, quark and tvorog make German and Russian cheesecakes, and akkawi lies beneath syrup and pastry in kunafa. In these the cheese gives body and a gentle tang that keeps the sugar in balance.
Worth knowing
- Brunost: Norwegian caramelised whey cheese
- Gouda: Butterscotch-sweet when very old
- Mimolette: Orange ball cheese aged with mites
- Parmigiano Reggiano: Sweet and savoury when long-aged
- Rasgulla: Chhena balls in light syrup
- Sandesh: Bengali sweet of chhena and sugar
- Chhena poda: Baked cheese sweet of Odisha
- Knafeh: Levantine cheese pastry in syrup
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Sweet and caramel on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreRicotta
A fresh Italian whey cheese made by reheating leftover proteins from other cheesemaking batches.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreQuarkTvorog
A fresh, acid-set cow's milk cheese with a smooth texture and mild taste.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreKhoa
A soft South Asian cheese made by simmering whole milk until thick and dry.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreBuffalo mozzarellamozzarella di bufala
A fresh, soft pasta filata cheese made from Italian Mediterranean buffalo milk.Buffalo · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇷🇴 Romania and 4 moreUrdaurdă
A fresh whey cheese from Southeast Europe and Hungary, made by boiling leftover milk liquid.Mixed · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreMizithraμυζήθρα
A fresh Greek whey cheese made from sheep or goat milk, eaten soft or dried for grating.Sheep · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreWhey cheese
A dairy product made from the liquid remaining after curds are separated during cheesemaking.Mixed · Whey · Sweet and caramel
🇪🇸 SpainMató
A fresh, unsalted Catalan cheese from sheep or goat milk, served with honey.Sheep · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreFromage blanc
A mild, acid-set fresh cheese from northern France and southern Belgium.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇫🇷 FranceFaisselle
A fresh, very soft French cheese strained in a faisselle mold, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇬🇷 GreeceAnthotyrosΑνθότυρος
A traditional Greek whey cheese made from sheep or goat milk, available in fresh and dry forms.Sheep · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇮🇹 ItalyReblecRéblèque
A fresh Aosta Valley cheese made from surfaced cream and raw milk.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇮🇹 ItalyRicotta di fuscella
A fresh cow's milk ricotta from Campania, shaped in a truncated cone basket.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇮🇹 ItalyHyblean ricottaRicotta iblea
A whey cheese from Sicily made with Modicana cow's milk and used in local pastries.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇵🇱 PolandHomogenized cheeseserek homogenizowany
A smooth Polish fresh cheese made from acid-set curd and cream.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 morePaskhaпа́сха
A sweet, molded East Slavic Easter cheese made from tvorog and dairy.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇮🇳 IndiaChhena Podaଛେନାପୋଡ଼
A baked Odisha dessert of caramelised cottage cheese and sugarCow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Buffalo mozzarella: Luigi Versaggi, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Anthotyros: Giorgos ab1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mizithra: grongar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ricotta: 8w9d, CC0, source
- Faisselle: Véronique PAGNIER, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mató: Eabayar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fromage blanc: Pancrat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Whey cheese: Illustratedjc, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Urda: Mngck, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Quark: SKopp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Khoa: Miansari66, Public domain, source
- Reblec: F Ceragioli, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hyblean ricotta: Micniosi, Public domain, source
- Homogenized cheese: Kaworu1992, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Paskha: Mitrius, Public domain, source
- Chhena Poda: http://recipes.oriyaonline.com/content_images/chhena%20poda.JPG, FAL, source