Semi-hard cheeses
Cheddar, Edam, Manchego and the tommes: pressed, firm and aged for months.
Semi-hard cheeses are the firm, pressed cheeses that fill most of the world's cheese counters: cheddar, Edam, Manchego, Cantal, Red Leicester, the tommes of the French mountains and the many farm cheeses made in their image. The curd is cut small, sometimes warmed, drained and pressed into wheels or blocks that ripen for two months to a year or more, turning from mild and springy to firm, flaky and deep.
Pressing and ripening
After the milk is set and cut, the curd is stirred and sometimes warmed to drive off whey. It is packed into moulds and pressed, which closes the texture and lowers the moisture so the cheese can age. Rinds may be natural, rubbed with oil, bound in cloth, coated in wax or sealed in plastic for rindless blocks. Gouda and Edam are made by washing the curd, which keeps them sweet, while cheddar has a step of its own. Edam is shaped into balls and, for export, often coated in red wax.
Cheddaring
Cheddar is named after the Somerset village of Cheddar, near the caves of the Mendip Hills. Its signature is cheddaring: slabs of curd are stacked and turned on the floor of the vat until they become smooth and fibrous, then milled into chips, salted and pressed. Traditional farmhouse cheddars are bound in muslin, rubbed with lard and aged for a year or more. The method travelled with British settlers to North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and cheddar is now made almost everywhere.
Southern and mountain styles
Spain's Manchego, made from the milk of Manchega sheep in La Mancha, is pressed in moulds that print a zigzag on the rind, a pattern once left by plaited esparto grass. France's Cantal and Salers are among the oldest cheeses of the Auvergne. The tommes of Savoie and the Pyrenees are smaller mountain cheeses with grey, dusty rinds. In Mexico, queso Chihuahua, first made by Mennonite farmers, follows the same broad method and melts well in queso fundido.
Worth knowing
- Cheddar: Somerset-born cheese now made around the world
- Edam: Dutch ball cheese, often in red wax
- Manchego: Sheep's milk cheese of La Mancha with a zigzag rind
- Cantal: Ancient pressed cheese of the Auvergne
- Tomme de Savoie: Grey-rinded mountain cheese of the Savoie
- Red Leicester: English cheese coloured with annatto
- Chihuahua cheese: Mennonite cheese of northern Mexico
Good to know
- Keep cut semi-hard cheese wrapped in paper inside a loose bag in the vegetable drawer of the fridge.
- Cut from a block with a wire or a long, thin knife for clean slices.
- Grate it cold, but serve it at room temperature.
- Waxed cheeses keep for months unopened.
Sources and further reading
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.
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