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EveryCheese

Tangy and lactic

Bright, lemony acidity: goat cheeses, feta, cottage cheese and young cheddar.

Tangy cheeses have a bright, lemony acidity, the taste of lactic acid made by bacteria from milk sugar. The tang is clearest in fresh and young cheeses: goat's milk logs, feta, cottage cheese, quark, Caerphilly, Wensleydale and Lancashire, and young cheddar. It is the flavour that makes a goat cheese salad taste fresh and keeps a cheesecake from tasting flat.

Lactic acid

Every cheese begins with bacteria turning lactose into lactic acid. In lactic cheeses this acid does most of the work of setting the curd, and the finished cheese keeps much of it, giving a fresh, citrus-like sharpness. In rennet cheeses that are aged, other flavours slowly take over as the acid is used up or neutralised, especially near the surface of bloomy and washed rinds. So a clear tang is usually a mark of youth, and it softens as a cheese ripens.

Tangy cheeses of the world

France's young goat cheeses, Greek feta and Bulgarian sirene, and the crumbly British cheeses, Caerphilly, Wensleydale and Lancashire, all have a clear acidity. Quark and tvorog are tangy in the same way as yoghurt. Kalimpong cheese is mild and slightly tangy when young. Ethiopia's ayib, made from soured milk after the butter has been churned, is gently sour and is served beside stews spiced with berbere, where it cools the heat.

In cooking

Tangy cheeses balance richness and sweetness. Crumbled feta lifts lamb and roasted vegetables, goat cheese sets off sweet beetroot, and in Yorkshire, Wensleydale is eaten with fruit cake, especially at Christmas. Quark and tvorog give cheesecake and syrniki their gentle sourness. Indian cooks set paneer with lemon juice or vinegar and rinse it well, which leaves only a faint tang, but home-made paneer set with sour whey often keeps a little more.

Worth knowing

  • Feta: Brined, salty and tangy
  • Crottin de Chavignol: Lemony when young
  • Caerphilly: Welsh crumbly cheese
  • Wensleydale: Yorkshire cheese eaten with fruit cake
  • Lancashire: Crumbly, buttery and tangy
  • Quark: Spoonable lactic cheese
  • Sirene: Bulgarian brined cheese

Sources and further reading

About this page

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.

Tangy and lactic on EveryCheese

The cheeses written up so far, best known first.

StyleFreshBrinedStretched curdBloomy rindLacticWashed rindSemi-softSemi-hardAlpineHardBlueSmokedWheyDriedProcessed
MilkCowGoatSheepBuffaloYakCamelMixedOther
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreMozzarella A semi-soft Italian stretched-curd cheese made from cow or buffalo milk.Cow · Semi-soft · Milky and fresh 🇫🇷 FranceCamembert A soft-ripened cow's milk cheese from Normandy with a white mould rindCow · Bloomy rind · Earthy and cellar 🇺🇸 United StatesHoop cheese A simple fresh cow's milk cheese pressed in a wooden ring to remove wheyCow · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇦🇹 Austria and 1 moreTyrolean grey cheeseTiroler Graukäse A low-fat cow's milk acid-curd quark from the Tyrolean Alps with a moulded rind.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic 🇮🇳 IndiaKalari A semi-soft cow or buffalo milk cheese from Jammu and Kashmir, dried and sautéed until gooey.Cow · Semi-soft · Savoury and brothy 🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreGorgonzola A creamy Italian blue cheese from Lombardy with two distinct styles.Cow · Bloomy rind · Salty 🇮🇳 IndiaKalimpong cheese A mild, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from a West Bengal hill station, started by a Jesuit priest.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreGvina levanaגבינה לבנה A soft, unripened cow's-milk cheese spread on bread in Israel.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic 🇹🇷 Turkey and 1 moreBasket cheesesepet peyniri A fresh, unsalted or lightly salted whey and curd cheese shaped in reed baskets from the Aegean coast.Goat · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇫🇷 France and 3 moreBrie A soft, pale French cow's-milk cheese with a white mould rind, aged for about five weeks.Cow · Bloomy rind · Nutty 🇫🇷 FranceBaguette laonnaise A soft, washed-rind cow's milk cheese from northern France shaped like a small loaf.Cow · Washed rind · Savoury and brothy 🇮🇹 ItalyCastelrosso A rare semi-hard cow's milk cheese from Piedmont with a gray rind and mild lactic flavor.Cow · Semi-hard · Buttery and creamy 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMarble cheese A processed cow's milk cheese with distinct colored marbling patterns.Cow · Hard · Savoury and brothy 🇬🇧 United KingdomStinking Bishop A washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from Gloucestershire, ripened in perry.Cow · Semi-soft · Savoury and brothy 🇮🇪 IrelandWicklow Farmhouse Cheese A range of handmade cow's milk cheeses from Arklow, Ireland, spanning soft bries to hard cheddars.Cow · Bloomy rind · Nutty 🇦🇹 AustriaSura Kees A low-fat sour milk cheese from the Montafon valley in Austria.Cow · Tangy and lactic 🇦🇱 AlbaniaMishavin A soft, crumbly Albanian cheese aged in skins and wood from sheep or cow milk.Sheep · Buttery and creamy 🇪🇬 EgyptAreeshجبنة قريش A soft, crumbly Egyptian cheese made from skimmed buffalo or cow milk.Buffalo · Fresh · Tangy and lactic 🇺🇸 United StatesLiederkranz A pungent American smear-ripened cow's milk cheese created in 1891 as a Limburger variant.Cow · Semi-soft · Pungent and funky 🇮🇳 India and 4 morePaneer A fresh, non-melting acid-set cheese made from cow or buffalo milk in South Asia.Cow · 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 🇫🇷 France and 2 moreBlue cheese A family of cheeses defined by blue-green mold veins created through deliberate inoculation and piercing.Cow · Semi-soft · Sharp and tangy-aged 🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreCottage cheese A fresh, unaged curd cheese made from skimmed milk and dressed with cream.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic 🇨🇭 SwitzerlandAppenzeller A hard, washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from northeast Switzerland with a herbal brine rind.Cow · Hard · Nutty 🇧🇪 Belgium and 2 moreLimburger A washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from Belgium known for its strong aroma and soft texture.Cow · Semi-soft · Salty 🇫🇷 France and 1 moreMunsterMunster-géromé A washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from the Vosges mountains of eastern France.Cow · Bloomy rind · Pungent and funky 🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreTilsitTilsiter A semi-hard smear-ripened cow's milk cheese from East Prussia with a dark yellow rind.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy 🇨🇭 Switzerland and 1 moreTête de Moine A semi-hard Swiss cow's milk cheese shaved into rosettes with a special tool.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy 🇫🇷 FranceFourme d'AmbertForma d'Embèrt A narrow cylindrical blue cheese from the Auvergne region of France.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy 🇨🇿 Czech RepublicOlomouc curd cheeseOlomoucké tvarůžky A pungent, low-fat ripened soft cheese from the Czech Republic made from quark.Cow · Bloomy rind · Pungent and funky 🇳🇴 NorwayGamalostgammelost A firm, sour Norwegian cheese made from skimmed cow's milk and aged for several weeks.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic 🇫🇷 FranceLaguioleLa Guiòla A semi-hard pressed cow's milk cheese from the Aubrac plateau in southern France.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty 🇬🇧 United KingdomCaerphilly A hard, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from South Wales with a mild lemony taste.Cow · Hard · Tangy and lactic 🇳🇵 Nepal and 2 moreChhurpiछुर्पी A smoked yak and cow milk cheese from the Himalayas, available in soft or hard forms.Yak · Smoked · Tangy and lactic 🇪🇸 SpainTetillaQueixo Tetilla A soft, conical cow's-milk cheese from Galicia with a distinctive nipple-like peak.Cow · Bloomy rind · Buttery and creamy 🇬🇧 United KingdomRed Leicester A hard, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from England, aged for months and coloured with annatto.Cow · Hard · Sweet and caramel 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreChhenaଛେନ୍ନା / ছানা A fresh, acid-set cow or buffalo milk cheese from eastern India and Bangladesh.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇩🇪 GermanyHarzer A low-fat German sour milk cheese from the Harz mountains, often spiced with caraway.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic 🇫🇷 FranceGaperon A dome-shaped Auvergne cheese with a white mold rind and garlic-pepper filling.Cow · Bloomy rind · Buttery and creamy 🇬🇧 United KingdomLancashire cheese A cow's-milk cheese from England with creamy, nutty, or crumbly varieties.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty 🇬🇧 United KingdomShropshire Blue A pasteurised cow's milk blue cheese with an orange rind and sharp flavour.Cow · Blue · Sharp and tangy-aged 🇪🇸 SpainMahónformatge de Maó / queso de Mahón A cow's-milk cheese from Menorca that ranges from soft and mild to hard and sharp.Cow · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy 🇪🇸 SpainAfuega'l pitu A soft, unpasteurised cow's milk cheese from Asturias, shaped like a mitre or sphere and often dusted with paprika.Cow · Milky and fresh 🇫🇷 France and 1 moreTomme A low-fat alpine cheese from France and Switzerland, often made from skimmed milk.Cow · Semi-hard · Milky and fresh 🇸🇪 SwedenHushållsost A mild, semi-hard Swedish cow's-milk cheese aged for about two months.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic 🇫🇷 FranceSaint-PaulinSaint Paulin A semi-soft French cow's milk cheese with a washed orange rind and buttery flavour.Cow · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy 🇫🇷 FranceSaint AgurSant Agur A soft, double-cream French blue cheese with olive-green veins and a mild spicy taste.Cow · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic 🇬🇧 United KingdomCornish Yarg A semi-hard cow's milk cheese from Cornwall wrapped in nettle leaves.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic
More cheeses

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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Every Monday: seven cheeses you may not know, the cheese days of the week ahead, and one dish explained step by step.