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

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.

Cow on EveryCheese

The cheeses written up so far, best known first.

🇫🇷 FranceCamembert A soft-ripened cow's milk cheese from Normandy with a white mould rindCow · Bloomy rind · Earthy and cellar 🇮🇪 IrelandWicklow Farmhouse Cheese A range of handmade cow's milk cheeses from Arklow, Ireland, spanning soft bries to hard cheddars.Cow · Bloomy rind · Nutty

🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreGorgonzola A creamy Italian blue cheese from Lombardy with two distinct styles.Cow · Bloomy rind · Salty

🇫🇷 France and 3 moreBrie A soft, pale French cow's-milk cheese with a white mould rind, aged for about five weeks.Cow · Bloomy rind · Nutty

🇫🇷 France and 1 moreMunsterMunster-géromé A washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from the Vosges mountains of eastern France.Cow · Bloomy rind · Pungent and funky

🇨🇿 Czech RepublicOlomouc curd cheeseOlomoucké tvarůžky A pungent, low-fat ripened soft cheese from the Czech Republic made from quark.Cow · Bloomy rind · Pungent and funky

🇪🇸 SpainTetillaQueixo Tetilla A soft, conical cow's-milk cheese from Galicia with a distinctive nipple-like peak.Cow · Bloomy rind · Buttery and creamy

🇫🇷 FranceGaperon A dome-shaped Auvergne cheese with a white mold rind and garlic-pepper filling.Cow · Bloomy rind · Buttery and creamy

🇫🇷 FranceSaint AgurSant Agur A soft, double-cream French blue cheese with olive-green veins and a mild spicy taste.Cow · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic

🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreDomiatiجبنه دمياطى A soft, salty Egyptian white cheese salted before coagulation.Buffalo · Bloomy rind · Salty

🇳🇴 NorwayPultost A soft Norwegian sour milk cheese flavored with caraway seeds and preserved with salt.Cow · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic

🇮🇹 ItalyRobiola A soft-ripened Italian cheese from Piedmont and Lombardy, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Bloomy rind · Sweet and caramel 🇳🇴 NorwaySnøfrisk A soft, spreadable Norwegian goat cheese with a fresh, sour taste.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic

🇫🇷 FranceDélice de Bourgogne A soft triple-cream cow's milk cheese from Burgundy with a bloomy rind.Cow · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic

🇮🇹 ItalySquacquerone A soft, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from Romagna with a short maturation.Cow · Bloomy rind · Sweet and caramel

🇬🇧 United KingdomOxford Blue A soft, creamy English blue cheese with spicy and chocolate notes, made in Oxfordshire.Cow · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic 🇫🇷 FranceBoursin A soft, herb-flecked French spread made from pasteurized cow's milk and cream.Cow · Fresh · Herbal and grassy

🇫🇷 FranceBrie de Melun A small, strong cow's-milk cheese from Seine-et-Marne with an AOC label.Cow · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Brie de Meaux: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Olomouc curd cheese: Chmee2, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Tetilla: Tamorlan, CC BY 3.0, source
Saint Agur: Micah Anderson, Public domain, source
Pultost: Jan-Tore Egge, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Domiati: MartinKassemJ120, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Camembert: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Munster: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Gaperon: Pymouss, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Gorgonzola: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Robiola: Andrea Marchisio, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Délice de Bourgogne: Beprost, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Squacquerone: WILO-MA, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Oxford Blue: Amanda Slater, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Brie de Melun: Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 4.0, source