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EveryCheese

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.

MilkCowGoatSheepBuffaloYakCamelMixedOther
FlavourMilky and freshButtery and creamyNuttySweet and caramelTangy and lacticSaltySharp and tangy-agedSavoury and brothyEarthy and cellarMushroomyPungent and funkySmokyHerbal and grassyPiquant and spicy
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreRicotta A fresh Italian whey cheese made by reheating leftover proteins from other cheesemaking batches.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreQuarkTvorog A fresh, acid-set cow's milk cheese with a smooth texture and mild taste.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇮🇳 India and 2 moreKhoa A soft South Asian cheese made by simmering whole milk until thick and dry.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreBuffalo mozzarellamozzarella di bufala A fresh, soft pasta filata cheese made from Italian Mediterranean buffalo milk.Buffalo · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇷🇴 Romania and 4 moreUrdaurdă A fresh whey cheese from Southeast Europe and Hungary, made by boiling leftover milk liquid.Mixed · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreMizithraμυζήθρα A fresh Greek whey cheese made from sheep or goat milk, eaten soft or dried for grating.Sheep · Fresh · Sweet and caramel 🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreWhey cheese A dairy product made from the liquid remaining after curds are separated during cheesemaking.Mixed · Whey · Sweet and caramel 🇪🇸 SpainMató A fresh, unsalted Catalan cheese from sheep or goat milk, served with honey.Sheep · Fresh · Sweet and caramel 🇫🇷 France and 2 moreFromage blanc A mild, acid-set fresh cheese from northern France and southern Belgium.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel 🇫🇷 FranceFaisselle A fresh, very soft French cheese strained in a faisselle mold, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇬🇷 GreeceAnthotyrosΑνθότυρος A traditional Greek whey cheese made from sheep or goat milk, available in fresh and dry forms.Sheep · Fresh · Sweet and caramel 🇮🇹 ItalyReblecRéblèque A fresh Aosta Valley cheese made from surfaced cream and raw milk.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇮🇹 ItalyRicotta di fuscella A fresh cow's milk ricotta from Campania, shaped in a truncated cone basket.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel 🇮🇹 ItalyHyblean ricottaRicotta iblea A whey cheese from Sicily made with Modicana cow's milk and used in local pastries.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel 🇵🇱 PolandHomogenized cheeseserek homogenizowany A smooth Polish fresh cheese made from acid-set curd and cream.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh 🇷🇺 Russia and 2 morePaskhaпа́сха A sweet, molded East Slavic Easter cheese made from tvorog and dairy.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel 🇮🇳 IndiaChhena Podaଛେନାପୋଡ଼ A baked Odisha dessert of caramelised cottage cheese and sugarCow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel

Photo credits on this page

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

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven cheeses you may not know, the cheese days of the week ahead, and one dish explained step by step.