Cheeses for snacks
Cheese curds, string cheese, crackers and cheese eaten between meals.
Cheese is a natural snack: portable, filling and good with almost anything. Quebec's squeaky cheese curds, string cheese in a lunch box, Dogra kalari fried in its own fat in Jammu, hard churpi chewed on Himalayan paths, kurt in Central Asian bazaars, cheese straws at tea time and paneer pakoras on a rainy Indian afternoon all fill the space between meals.
Squeaky and stringy
Fresh cheddar curds squeak against the teeth when they are only hours old, because their protein network is still springy. Wisconsin, Quebec and Ontario sell them by the bag, and they are fried in batter at fairs. String cheese, mozzarella pulled into sticks, peels into threads and is a staple of North American lunch boxes. The squeak fades within a day or two in the fridge, though a few seconds of gentle warming can bring some of it back.
Fried snacks
Many cheese snacks are fried. Indian paneer pakoras are dipped in spiced gram-flour batter, and in Jammu, kalari is fried until crisp outside and stretchy within, then eaten with salt or in a kalari kulcha. Venezuelan tequeños wrap sticks of white cheese in dough. Italian mozzarella in carrozza and arancini hide cheese inside bread or rice, and Turkish sigara böreği rolls white cheese and parsley in thin pastry like a cigarette.
Chewed and nibbled
Hard churpi is held in the mouth for an hour, softening slowly, and kurt and aaruul are eaten as a salty, sour snack across Central Asia and Mongolia. Cheese straws, made with grated cheddar or Parmesan, are a tea-time snack in Britain and a party staple in the American South. In the Netherlands, cubes of Gouda with mustard are served with a drink, and in Spain, a few slices of Manchego come with a glass of wine.
Worth knowing
- Cheese curds: Squeaky fresh curds of Quebec and Wisconsin
- String cheese: Mozzarella sticks that peel into threads
- Pakora: Paneer dipped in gram-flour batter and fried
- Kalari: Jammu cheese fried in its own fat
- Tequeño: Venezuelan cheese stick in dough
- Mozzarella in carrozza: Fried mozzarella sandwich of Naples
- Sigara böreği: Turkish cheese pastry rolled like a cigarette
- Chhurpi: Hard Himalayan cheese chewed slowly
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.
Snacks on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇲🇹 MaltaĠbejna
A small Maltese sheep's-milk cheese shaped in reed hurdles and sold fresh, dried, or peppered.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇷🇴 RomaniaBrânză de coșuleț
A lightly smoked sheep's milk cheese from Transylvania, cured in fir bark.Sheep · Smoked · Salty
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreCasu MarzuCasu martzu
A Sardinian fermented sheep cheese containing live fly larvae.Sheep · Savoury and brothy
🇮🇹 Italy and 4 moreProvolone
A semi-hard Italian stretched-curd cheese aged for at least four months.Cow · Semi-hard · Sharp and tangy-aged
🇵🇹 PortugalSão Jorge CheeseQueijo São Jorge
A hard cow's-milk cheese from the Azores with a spicy aroma and protected origin status.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇩🇪 GermanyHarzer
A low-fat German sour milk cheese from the Harz mountains, often spiced with caraway.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇪🇸 SpainZamoranoQueso zamorano
A hard, dark-rinded sheep's milk cheese from the province of Zamora in Spain.Sheep · Hard · Nutty
🇩🇪 GermanyMilbenkäse
A German quark cheese ripened with living cheese mites in rye flour.Cow · Bloomy rind · Sharp and tangy-aged
🇮🇹 ItalyMonte Veronese
A semi-hard cow's-milk cheese from Verona with fresh and aged varieties.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇪🇸 SpainSan Simón da Costa
A pear-shaped, smoked cow's milk cheese from Galicia with a smooth brown rind.Cow · Semi-hard · Salty
🇪🇸 SpainCasín cheesequeso Casin
A semi-hard cow's-milk cheese from southern Asturias with a protected origin status.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇭🇺 HungaryPálpusztai cheese
A pungent Hungarian soft cow's milk cheese aged for two to three weeks.Cow · Piquant and spicy
🇪🇸 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
🇮🇹 ItalyRed Pecorinopicurinu rusu
A red, stretched-curd sheep's milk cheese from Sicily, coloured with tomato sauce.Sheep · Stretched curd · Savoury and brothy
🇬🇧 United KingdomOxford Blue
A soft, creamy English blue cheese with spicy and chocolate notes, made in Oxfordshire.Cow · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic
🇧🇦 Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnian smoked cheeseSuhi dimljeni sir
A very dry, piquant low-fat smoked cheese from Bosnia and Herzegovina.Mixed · Smoked · Piquant and spicy
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Zamorano: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Monte Veronese: La Casara Caseificio Dal 1920, CC BY 2.0, source
- São Jorge Cheese: VulcaoAtlantico, CC BY 4.0, source
- Casu Marzu: Shardan, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- San Simón da Costa: Tamorlan, CC BY 3.0, source
- Ġbejna: Chattacha, CC BY 3.0, source
- Brânză de coșuleț: Vlad.saileanu at en.wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Milbenkäse: Benutzer:Dundak at de.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pálpusztai cheese: JezWegierski, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Provolone: Lenore Edman, CC BY 2.0, source
- Harzer: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Casín cheese: Shalbat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mallorca: Tamorlan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bosnian smoked cheese: Security.cyber, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Oxford Blue: Amanda Slater, CC BY-SA 2.0, source