Cow's milk cheeses
Most of the world's cheese: cheddar, Gouda, Brie, Parmigiano, paneer and the great Alpine wheels.
Cow's milk makes most of the world's cheese. It is plentiful, mild and balanced in fat and protein, which lets cheesemakers turn it into everything from paneer to Parmigiano. Its fat carries carotene from grass, so cow's milk cheese is often pale yellow, deeper in summer when the herds graze fresh pasture. Cheddar, Gouda, Brie, Camembert, Emmental, Comté and mozzarella all begin here, and so does most of India's paneer.
Breeds and feed
Breed matters to a cheesemaker. Holstein-Friesians give large volumes of milk, while Jersey and Guernsey milk is richer in fat and protein. Many protected cheeses name their breeds: Comté must be made from the milk of Montbéliarde or French Simmental cows, and some Parmigiano Reggiano dairies work only with the old red Reggiana breed. Feed matters too. The rules for Comté and Parmigiano Reggiano forbid silage, because fermented feed can carry bacteria that spoil a long-aged wheel.
India and the cooperatives
India produces more milk than any other country, from cows and buffaloes together, and a great deal of it becomes paneer and chhena. The cooperative movement that began at Anand in Gujarat in 1946 grew, through the programme known as Operation Flood, into a national network of village dairies, and today it makes paneer, processed cheese and mozzarella on a large scale. Native breeds such as Gir and Sahiwal are kept for their milk, and many families still set paneer at home from the morning's delivery.
One milk, many cheeses
Cow's milk can become soft or hard, fresh or aged for years. It separates its cream easily, which suits both butter and skimmed-milk cheeses, and its curd sets firmly with rennet. Cheeses from the same milk can taste wholly different depending on the cultures, the size of the cut, the cooking, the salting and the cellar. That is why cheddar and Camembert, paneer and Parmigiano, all made from the milk of the same kind of animal, share almost nothing on the plate.
Worth knowing
- Cheddar: The most widely copied cheese in the world
- Parmigiano Reggiano: Grana of the Po valley, aged at least a year
- Gouda: Dutch washed-curd cheese, young to very old
- Camembert de Normandie: Raw-milk bloomy rind of Normandy
- Comté: Jura wheel of Montbéliarde milk
- Emmental: Swiss wheel with large holes
- Paneer: India's fresh pressed cheese
- Kalimpong cheese: Small Himalayan wheel of West Bengal
Good to know
- Pale cheese in winter and golden cheese in summer is normal for pasture-fed herds.
- Cow's milk cheeses suit almost any wine, beer or tea: match strength with strength.
- Store firm cow's milk cheeses in paper and soft ones in a closed box.
Sources and further reading
- Cheese on Wikipedia
- Dairy cattle, Wikipedia
- White revolution (India), Wikipedia
- Cheese, Encyclopaedia Britannica
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.
Cow on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇲🇽 MexicoCotija
A salty, aged cow's milk cheese from Michoacán that crumbles but does not melt.Cow · Semi-hard · Salty
🇵🇭 PhilippinesKesong putiKesong putî
A soft, unaged Filipino white cheese made from carabao or cow milk and curdled with acid.Cow · Fresh · Salty
🇦🇷 ArgentinaSardo
A hard, grating cow's milk cheese from Argentina with a mellow, salty flavor.Cow · Hard · Salty
🇩🇪 GermanySpundekäs
A spiced cream cheese spread from Northern Rhenish Hesse in Germany.Cow · Fresh · Salty
🇧🇷 BrazilColony cheesequeijo de colônia
A semi-hard cow's-milk cheese from southern Brazil with a yellow crust and creamy interior.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic
🇳🇱 NetherlandsBoerenkaas
A Dutch semi-hard raw milk cheese with TSG protection, often spiced and farm-made.Cow · Semi-hard · Salty
🇮🇳 IndiaBandel cheese
A small, smoked cow's-milk cheese from West Bengal with a crumbly texture and tangy taste.Cow · Fresh · Salty
🇬🇧 United KingdomStichelton
A raw-milk blue cheese made in Nottinghamshire using traditional unpasteurised methods.Cow · Blue · Buttery and creamy
🇩🇪 GermanyNieheimer Käse
A sour milk cheese from North Rhine-Westphalia ripened in hops and flavored with caraway.Cow · Hard · Tangy and lactic
🇵🇱 PolandRokpol
A pungent, salty Polish blue cheese made from cow's milk.Cow · Blue · Pungent and funky
🇽🇰 Kosovo and 2 moreSharr cheeseDjathë i Sharrit / Шарски сир
A hard, salty cow and sheep milk cheese from the Šar Mountains of Kosovo.Cow · Hard · Salty
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreAura
A Finnish cow's-milk blue cheese aged for six or twelve weeks.Cow · Blue · Salty
🇬🇧 United KingdomCrowdiegruth
A soft, fresh Scottish cow's-milk cheese set by lactic acid without rennet.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇪🇸 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
🇳🇴 NorwayKraftkar
A Norwegian blue cheese made from cow's milk and cream in Nordmøre.Cow · Blue · Salty
🇳🇱 Netherlands and 1 moreMaaslander
A mild Dutch cow's milk Gouda with reduced salt and distinctive striped rinds.Cow · Semi-hard · Salty
🇧🇷 BrazilQueijo prato
A mild, semi-hard Brazilian cow's milk cheese with a yellow paste and low salt content.Cow · Semi-hard · Salty
🇳🇱 NetherlandsParrano
A semi-firm Dutch cow's milk cheese aged five months with a nutty, salty-sweet profile.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇮🇹 ItalyCaprino
An Italian goat's-milk cheese made in fresh or aged styles across several regions.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇹 ItalyProvatura
A fresh pasta filata cheese from Lazio, shaped like an egg and made from cow or buffalo milk.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
🇨🇷 Costa Rica and 1 morePalmitoQueso palmito
A Costa Rican stretched-curd cheese shaped like a knotted ball of string cheese.Cow · Fresh · Salty
🇫🇷 FranceAbbaye de Timadeuc CheeseFourmaj Abati Tinadeuc
A soft, salty cow's-milk cheese made by Trappist monks in Brittany.Cow · Semi-soft · Salty
🇨🇦 CanadaFriulano
A rindless Canadian cow's-milk cheese with a salty hazelnut flavour, aged to improve its character.Cow · Semi-hard · Salty
🇨🇦 CanadaDragon's Breath Blue
A soft, wax-coated blue cheese from Nova Scotia with a pungent aroma and briny liquid.Cow · Bloomy rind · Pungent and funky
🇬🇧 United KingdomSuffolk Bang
A hard, heavily salted skimmed-milk cheese from Suffolk, England.Cow · Hard · Salty
🇨🇿 Czech Republic and 1 moreGran Moravia
A hard, long-aged cow's-milk grana-style cheese from the Czech Republic.Cow · Hard · Nutty
🇪🇬 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.
- Friesian Clove: Takeaway, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sharr cheese: ThinkTank123, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Rokpol: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Caprino: Number55, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kesong puti: Shubert Ciencia, CC BY 3.0, source
- Cotija: Leslie Seaton, CC BY 2.0, 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
- Nieheimer Käse: Tsungam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Stichelton: Jeremy Keith, CC BY 2.0, source
- Aura: Suvi Korhonen, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mallorca: Tamorlan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kraftkar: Bernt Rostad, CC BY 2.0, source
- Friulano: VerifiedCactus, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dangke: RianHS, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Palmito: LittleT889, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Abbaye de Timadeuc Cheese: Salsero35, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Egyptian cheese: Tour d'Afrique, CC BY 2.0, source