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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
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreMarble cheese A processed cow's milk cheese with distinct colored marbling patterns.Cow 路 Hard 路 Savoury and brothy 馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandWicklow Farmhouse Cheese A range of handmade cow's milk cheeses from Arklow, Ireland, spanning soft bries to hard cheddars.Cow 路 Bloomy rind 路 Nutty 馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandSt Tola Handmade goat's milk cheese from Inagh, County Clare, ranging from fresh logs to aged wheels.Goat 路 Fresh 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚝馃嚪 France and 2 moreBlue cheese A family of cheeses defined by blue-green mold veins created through deliberate inoculation and piercing.Cow 路 Semi-soft 路 Sharp and tangy-aged 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyPecorino A family of Italian hard sheep's-milk cheeses with protected status.Sheep 路 Hard 路 Buttery and creamy 馃嚚馃嚟 SwitzerlandAppenzeller A hard, washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from northeast Switzerland with a herbal brine rind.Cow 路 Hard 路 Nutty 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomCaerphilly A hard, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from South Wales with a mild lemony taste.Cow 路 Hard 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚦馃嚨 Nepal and 2 moreChhurpi啶涏啶班啶 A smoked yak and cow milk cheese from the Himalayas, available in soft or hard forms.Yak 路 Smoked 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomRed Leicester A hard, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from England, aged for months and coloured with annatto.Cow 路 Hard 路 Sweet and caramel 馃嚙馃嚘 Bosnia and HerzegovinaLivno cheeseLivanjski sir / 袥懈胁邪褮褋泻懈 褋懈褉 A hard cow and sheep milk cheese from Bosnia aged for two monthsMixed 路 Hard 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚟馃嚪 CroatiaPag cheesePa拧ki sir A hard sheep's-milk cheese from Croatia's Pag island, aged up to eighteen months.Sheep 路 Hard 路 Salty 馃嚜馃嚫 SpainMah贸nformatge de Ma贸 / queso de Mah贸n A cow's-milk cheese from Menorca that ranges from soft and mild to hard and sharp.Cow 路 Semi-soft 路 Buttery and creamy 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyPecorino Toscano A firm Tuscan sheep's milk cheese with PDO status since 1996.Sheep 路 Hard 路 Salty 馃嚙馃嚪 BrazilColony cheesequeijo de col么nia A semi-hard cow's-milk cheese from southern Brazil with a yellow crust and creamy interior.Cow 路 Semi-hard 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyNieheimer K盲se A sour milk cheese from North Rhine-Westphalia ripened in hops and flavored with caraway.Cow 路 Hard 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚦馃嚤 Netherlands and 1 moreKanterkaas A hard Dutch cow's milk cheese flavored with cumin and cloves, aged in Friesland.Cow 路 Hard 路 Sharp and tangy-aged 馃嚝馃嚪 FranceTome fra卯cheToma fresca A hard-pressed, unsalted cow's milk cheese from the Aubrac region of France.Cow 路 Hard 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceXynotyro A hard, sour whey cheese from Greece made with sheep or goat milk.Mixed 路 Hard 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyCanestrato A hard Italian cheese from sheep and goat milk, aged in traditional baskets.Mixed 路 Hard 路 Salty 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 3 moreAlpk盲se A seasonal hard cow's-milk cheese made on high Alpine pastures in summer.Cow 路 Hard 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomLancashire cheese A cow's-milk cheese from England with three main styles: creamy, tasty, and crumbly.Cow 路 Semi-hard 路 Nutty

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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