Fresh cheeses

Paneer, ricotta, quark, cottage cheese and queso fresco: unripened, mild and eaten within days.

Cubes: fresh cheese pressed in a block and cut. Paneer, feta and halloumi are often cubed for cooking.

Fresh cheeses are eaten within days of making, with no ripening at all. Milk is set with acid or rennet, the curd is drained, and what remains is soft, moist and mild. Paneer and chhena in India, quark and tvorog in Central and Eastern Europe, cottage cheese in Britain and North America, fromage frais in France and queso fresco across Latin America all belong here. They are the oldest and simplest cheeses, and the easiest to make at home.

How they are made

Fresh cheese starts with warm milk and something to curdle it. Paneer and chhena are set with heat and acid, usually lemon juice, vinegar or sour whey, so no rennet is needed, a point that matters to many vegetarian households. Quark and fromage frais are set slowly by lactic bacteria, sometimes helped by a drop of rennet. The curd is cut or ladled, drained in cloth or moulds, and sometimes pressed. Because nothing is aged, the cheese keeps the taste of the milk itself: sweet, clean and lightly sour.

Paneer, chhena and the Indian thread

India is one of the great fresh-cheese cultures of the world. Paneer is pressed into a firm block that holds its shape in curries such as palak paneer and on tandoor skewers. Chhena is the same kind of curd left unpressed and kneaded smooth, the base of Bengali and Odia sweets such as rasgulla, sandesh and chhena poda. Surti paneer from Gujarat is a softer buffalo-milk cheese set with rennet and kept in its whey, and the Parsi topli nu paneer, moulded in small baskets, is a wedding favourite.

Around the world

Every dairy culture has its own fresh cheese. Tvorog is the farmer's cheese of Russia and Ukraine, eaten with sour cream and fried into syrniki. Queso fresco and queso blanco are crumbled over beans and tacos in Mexico and Central America. Cottage cheese has loose, washed curds in a light dressing of cream. Ethiopian ayib is a crumbly cheese made from soured milk after the butter has been churned, served beside spicy stews. Ricotta, strictly a whey cheese, is eaten fresh in the same way.

Worth knowing

Paneer: Pressed, acid-set cheese of India, cooked in curries and grilled
Chhena: Unpressed curd kneaded smooth for the sweets of Bengal and Odisha
Quark: Lactic fresh cheese of Germany, spread on bread and baked into cheesecake
Cottage cheese: Loose, washed curds dressed with a little cream
Queso fresco: Salted, crumbly fresh cheese of Mexico and Central America
Tvorog: East European farmer's cheese for syrniki and Easter paskha
Surti paneer: Soft buffalo-milk cheese of Surat, kept in whey
Topli nu paneer: Parsi basket-moulded cheese served at weddings

Good to know

Keep fresh cheese covered in the fridge and use it within a few days of making or opening.
Shop-bought paneer softens if it sits in hot water for a few minutes before it goes into a curry.
Drain watery fresh cheese in a muslin-lined sieve before baking with it.
Freezing changes the texture: firm paneer copes better than soft curd.

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.

Fresh on EveryCheese

The cheeses written up so far, best known first.

🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreAsaderoqueso asadero A fresh Mexican cheese made from cow and goat milk that melts easily for grilling.Cow · Fresh · Savoury and brothy

🇮🇪 IrelandSt Tola Handmade goat's milk cheese from Inagh, County Clare, ranging from fresh logs to aged wheels.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic 🇨🇳 ChinaKefir cheese A tangy, creamy cheese set using kefir culture rather than rennet or acid.Mixed · Fresh · Tangy and lactic

🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreBread cheeseleipäjuusto A Finnish fresh cow's-milk cheese that squeaks when bitten and is traditionally baked or grilled.Cow · Fresh · Savoury and brothy

🇳🇵 Nepal and 2 moreChhurpiछुर्पी A smoked yak and cow milk cheese from the Himalayas, available in soft or hard forms.Yak · Smoked · Tangy and lactic

🇩🇪 GermanyHarzer A low-fat German sour milk cheese from the Harz mountains, often spiced with caraway.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic

🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreWhey cheese A dairy product made from the liquid remaining after curds are separated during cheesemaking.Mixed · Whey · Sweet and caramel

🇧🇹 BhutanDatshiདར་ཚི A fresh Bhutanese cottage cheese made from cow milk, central to daily meals and curries.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic 🇳🇴 NorwaySnøfrisk A soft, spreadable Norwegian goat cheese with a fresh, sour taste.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic

🇳🇵 NepalTibetan cheese A family of dairy products from Tibet, ranging from fresh curds to extra-hard aged blocks.Mixed · Fresh · Savoury and brothy

🇮🇳 IndiaChhena Podaଛେନାପୋଡ଼ A baked Odisha dessert of caramelised cottage cheese and sugarCow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel 🇫🇷 FranceBoursin A soft, herb-flecked French spread made from pasteurized cow's milk and cream.Cow · Fresh · Herbal and grassy

Photo credits on this page

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

Chhurpi: Arijit Dasgupta, CC BY 2.0, source
Whey cheese: Illustratedjc, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Asadero: Megalibrarygirl, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
St Tola: HighKing, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Bread cheese: Teemu Rajala, CC BY 2.5, source
Harzer: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Datshi: Nair A, Choden D, Pradhan M., CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tibetan cheese: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Chhena Poda: http://recipes.oriyaonline.com/content_images/chhena%20poda.JPG, FAL, source