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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
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 5 moreRicotta A fresh Italian whey cheese made by reheating leftover proteins from other cheesemaking batches.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚥馃嚬 Malta臓bejna A small Maltese sheep's-milk cheese shaped in reed hurdles and sold fresh, dried, or peppered.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚬馃嚪 Turkey and 1 moreBasket cheesesepet peyniri A fresh, unsalted or lightly salted whey and curd cheese shaped in reed baskets from the Aegean coast.Goat 路 Fresh 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚫馃嚢 Slovakia and 5 moreBryndza A tangy, crumbly sheep's milk cheese from Central and Eastern Europe.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚝馃嚪 FranceBrocciu A fresh Corsican cheese made from sheep milk and whey, drained in rush baskets.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreMizithra渭蠀味萎胃蟻伪 A fresh Greek whey cheese made from sheep or goat milk, eaten soft or dried for grating.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Sweet and caramel 馃嚜馃嚫 SpainMat贸 A fresh, unsalted Catalan cheese from sheep or goat milk, served with honey.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Sweet and caramel 馃嚚馃嚲 CyprusAnari伪谓伪蟻萎 A fresh whey cheese from Cyprus made from sheep or goat milk.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Salty 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 1 moreCircassian cheese邪写褘谐械泄褋泻懈泄 褋褘褉 A fresh, basket-molded cow's milk cheese from the North Caucasus that holds its shape when heated.Cow 路 Fresh 馃嚨馃嚤 Poland and 1 moreBundz A mild, fresh sheep's-milk cheese from the Polish and Ukrainian Carpathians.Sheep 路 Fresh 馃嚝馃嚪 FranceFaisselle A fresh, very soft French cheese strained in a faisselle mold, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow 路 Fresh 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceAnthotyros螒谓胃蠈蟿蠀蟻慰蟼 A traditional Greek whey cheese made from sheep or goat milk, available in fresh and dry forms.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Sweet and caramel 馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceXynomizithra螢喂谓慰渭蠀味萎胃蟻伪 A soft, sour Greek whey cheese from Crete made with sheep or goat milk.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Tangy and lactic 馃嚬馃嚦 TunisiaRigouta A fresh Tunisian whey cheese from B茅ja, made with Sicilo-Sarda sheep milk.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚝馃嚪 FranceBrousse A lumpy whey cheese from Provence and Corsica made from cow, sheep or goat milk.Cow 路 Whey 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceKatiki Domokou螝伪蟿委魏喂 螖慰渭慰魏慰蠉 A fresh, soft goat and sheep milk cheese from central Greece.Goat 路 Fresh 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyTuma A fresh, unsalted sheep's milk cheese from southern Italy, eaten within days of curd formation.Sheep 路 Fresh 路 Milky and fresh 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyPadraccio A fresh, spherical sheep and goat milk cheese wrapped in fern leaves from Basilicata.Sheep 路 Fresh 馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptEgyptian cheese噩亘賳丞 (gebna) A broad category of cheeses central to Egyptian cuisine, ranging from fresh white types to aged blue varieties.Cow 路 Fresh 路 Salty

Photo credits on this page

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

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