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.
🇫🇷 FranceComté
A hard, cooked-pressed cow's milk cheese from eastern France, aged up to three years.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇳🇱 NetherlandsMaasdam
A semi-hard Dutch cow's milk cheese with holes, aged for one to three months.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreMonterey Jack
A mild, semi-hard cow's-milk cheese from California with a creamy texture and slight sweetness.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇳🇱 Netherlands and 1 moreLeerdammer
A Dutch semihard cow's-milk cheese with holes and a sweet nutty taste.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreSwiss cheese
A yellow, medium-hard cheese with characteristic holes, produced globally in various styles.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇸🇪 SwedenGrevé
A semi-hard Swedish cow's-milk cheese with a nutty, slightly sweet flavour.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇮🇹 ItalyMonte Veronese
A semi-hard cow's-milk cheese from Verona with fresh and aged varieties.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇮🇹 ItalyFormai de Mut dell'Alta Valle Brembana
A semi-hard cow's milk cheese from the high pastures of Lombardy, Italy.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇺🇸 United StatesBrick cheese
A Wisconsin cow's-milk cheese shaped like a brick with an orange rind.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇳🇱 NetherlandsParrano
A semi-firm Dutch cow's milk cheese aged five months with a nutty, salty-sweet profile.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇦🇹 AustriaMondseer
A semi-hard Austrian cow's milk cheese with a washed rind and mild sharp taste.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇮🇹 ItalyProvola
A semi-hard stretched curd cheese from southern Italy, often smoked or aged.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇺🇸 United StatesMonterey Jack
A mild, semi-hard cow's milk cheese from California with a creamy texture and slight sweetness.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Provola: Enzian44, CC BY 3.0, source
- Monterey Jack: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Leerdammer: M.Minderhoud, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Grevé: Ankara, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Monte Veronese: La Casara Caseificio Dal 1920, CC BY 2.0, source
- Comté: Myrabella, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Maasdam: Arz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Swiss cheese: Renee Comet (photographer), Public domain, source
- Formai de Mut dell'Alta Valle Brembana: MOs810, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Monterey Jack: Daniel Olsen ( talk ), CC BY 1.0, source