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
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.
🇦🇹 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
🇮🇱 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
🇪🇬 EgyptAreeshجبنة قريش
A soft, crumbly Egyptian cheese made from skimmed buffalo or cow milk.Buffalo · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇺🇸 United StatesHoop cheese
A simple fresh cow's milk cheese pressed in a wooden ring to remove wheyCow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇮🇳 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
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreCottage cheese
A fresh, unaged curd cheese made from skimmed milk and dressed with cream.Cow · Fresh · 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
🇩🇪 GermanyHarzer
A low-fat German sour milk cheese from the Harz mountains, often spiced with caraway.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreChhenaଛେନ୍ନା / ছানা
A fresh, acid-set cow or buffalo milk cheese from eastern India and Bangladesh.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇫🇷 FranceFaisselle
A fresh, very soft French cheese strained in a faisselle mold, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇵🇾 ParaguayParaguay cheesekesú Paraguái
A soft, creamy cow's-milk cheese from the eastern wetlands of Paraguay.Cow · Fresh · Salty
🇩🇪 GermanySpundekäs
A spiced cream cheese spread from Northern Rhenish Hesse in Germany.Cow · Fresh · Salty
🇧🇹 BhutanDatshiདར་ཚི
A fresh Bhutanese cottage cheese made from cow milk, central to daily meals and curries.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇳🇴 NorwaySnøfrisk
A soft, spreadable Norwegian goat cheese with a fresh, sour taste.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇹 ItalyPrescinsêua
A sour, semi-liquid cow's milk cheese from Liguria used in savory pies and focaccia.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇳 IndiaBandel cheese
A small, smoked cow's-milk cheese from West Bengal with a crumbly texture and tangy taste.Cow · Fresh · Salty
🇬🇧 United KingdomCrowdiegruth
A soft, fresh Scottish cow's-milk cheese set by lactic acid without rennet.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇹 ItalyCaprino
An Italian goat's-milk cheese made in fresh or aged styles across several regions.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇷🇴 Romania and 1 moreBrânză de vaci
A fresh, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from Romania and Moldova, similar to quark.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇮🇩 IndonesiaDangke
A fresh cottage cheese from South Sulawesi made with buffalo or cow milk and papaya leaves.Buffalo · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇫🇷 FranceBoursin
A soft, herb-flecked French spread made from pasteurized cow's milk and cream.Cow · Fresh · Herbal and grassy
🇪🇬 EgyptEgyptian cheeseجبنة (gebna)
A broad category of cheeses central to Egyptian cuisine, ranging from fresh white types to aged blue varieties.Cow · Fresh · Salty
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tyrolean grey cheese: Jürgele, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Paneer: Sonja Pauen - Stanhopea, CC BY 2.0 de, source
- Chhurpi: Arijit Dasgupta, CC BY 2.0, source
- Faisselle: Véronique PAGNIER, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Basket cheese: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Quark: SKopp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cottage cheese: F ASTILY (T ALK ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Harzer: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Caprino: Number55, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chhena: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
- Datshi: Nair A, Choden D, Pradhan M., CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Spundekäs: User:Kandschwar , edit by Rainer Z ..., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bandel cheese: Rangan Datta Wiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Prescinsêua: Own work, CC0, source
- Dangke: RianHS, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Egyptian cheese: Tour d'Afrique, CC BY 2.0, source