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.
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreFetaφέτα
A crumbly Greek brined cheese made from sheep and goat milk.Sheep · Brined · 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
🇦🇱 AlbaniaMishavin
A soft, crumbly Albanian cheese aged in skins and wood from sheep or cow milk.Sheep · Buttery and creamy
🇫🇷 FranceRoquefortRòcafòrt
A raw sheep's milk blue cheese aged in the Combalou caves of southern France.Sheep · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic
🇫🇷 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
🇮🇹 ItalyPecorino
A family of Italian hard sheep's-milk cheeses with protected status.Sheep · Hard · Buttery and creamy
🇸🇰 Slovakia and 5 moreBryndza
A tangy, crumbly sheep's milk cheese from Central and Eastern Europe.Sheep · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇫🇷 FranceBrocciu
A fresh Corsican cheese made from sheep milk and whey, drained in rush baskets.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇵🇹 PortugalSerra da EstrelaQueijo Serra da Estrela
A soft Portuguese sheep's milk cheese coagulated with thistle and aged for at least a month.Sheep · Bloomy rind · Buttery and creamy
🇵🇸 Palestine and 1 moreNabulsi cheeseجبنة نابلسية
A white brined semi-hard cheese from Nablus, flavored with mahleb and mastic.Sheep · Brined · Salty
🇭🇷 CroatiaPag cheesePaški sir
A hard sheep's-milk cheese from Croatia's Pag island, aged up to eighteen months.Sheep · Hard · Salty
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreTomme
A low-fat alpine cheese from France and Switzerland, often made from skimmed milk.Cow · Semi-hard · Milky and fresh
🇵🇹 PortugalQueijo de Nisa
A semi-hard sheep's milk cheese from Alto Alentejo, Portugal, set with thistle.Sheep · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇫🇷 FranceFaisselle
A fresh, very soft French cheese strained in a faisselle mold, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇮🇹 ItalyPecorino Toscano
A firm Tuscan sheep's milk cheese with PDO status since 1996.Sheep · Hard · Salty
🇦🇲 ArmeniaMotalմոթալ
A soft, brined Armenian cheese aged in leather bags with wild thyme.Sheep · Brined · Milky and fresh
🇬🇷 GreeceXynomizithraΞινομυζήθρα
A soft, sour Greek whey cheese from Crete made with sheep or goat milk.Sheep · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇫🇷 FrancePerailPérail
A soft ewes-milk cheese from Aveyron with a wrinkly ivory rind.Sheep · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇱 IsraelTzfat Cheeseגבינה צפתית
A semi-hard salty cheese from Safed, originally made with sheep's milk and molded in baskets.Sheep · Semi-hard · Salty
🇮🇹 ItalyRobiola
A soft-ripened Italian cheese from Piedmont and Lombardy, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Bloomy rind · Sweet and caramel
🇮🇹 ItalyCacioricotta
A southern Italian cheese made from milk and whey using a hybrid method.Sheep · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇹🇳 TunisiaRigouta
A fresh Tunisian whey cheese from Béja, made with Sicilo-Sarda sheep milk.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇪🇸 SpainMallorcaformatge mallorquí
A semi-hard cow, goat or sheep milk cheese from the Balearic Islands with an olive-oiled rind.Cow · Semi-hard · Milky and fresh
🇺🇦 UkraineHutsul sheep bryndzyaгуцульська овеча бриндзя
A soft, crumbly sheep's-milk cheese from the Ukrainian Carpathians, ripened and salted by hand.Sheep · Bloomy rind · Salty
🇧🇬 BulgariaCherni VitЧерни Вит
A soft sheep's milk cheese from Bulgaria with a naturally green mold crust.Sheep · Salty
🇬🇷 GreeceKatiki DomokouΚατίκι Δομοκού
A fresh, soft goat and sheep milk cheese from central Greece.Goat · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇪🇬 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.
- Brocciu: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pecorino: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pag cheese: Silverije, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tomme: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Faisselle: Véronique PAGNIER, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Perail: Benoît Prieur, CC0, source
- Pecorino Toscano: Dan, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Serra da Estrela: Adriao, Public domain, source
- Feta: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Motal: Barseghian Lilia, CC0, source
- Nabulsi cheese: رائد عزمي حموده, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Basket cheese: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mishavin: Tizilohja25, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Roquefort: Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Blue cheese: No machine-readable author provided. Brookie assumed (based on copyrig, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bryndza: Kagor, GFDL, source
- Queijo de Nisa: Adriao, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Katiki Domokou: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tzfat Cheese: Myself, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Robiola: Andrea Marchisio, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cacioricotta: Andrew Green, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Rigouta: Habib M ' henni, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mallorca: Tamorlan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hutsul sheep bryndzya: Ukrinform TV, CC BY 3.0, source
- Egyptian cheese: Tour d'Afrique, CC BY 2.0, source