Semi-soft cheeses
Havarti, young Gouda, Port Salut and Monterey Jack: supple, mild and good for slicing.
Semi-soft cheeses sit between the soft and the firm: supple, moist and easy to slice, usually with a thin natural or waxed rind and a mild, buttery flavour. They are ripened for a few weeks to a few months. Havarti, young Gouda, Port Salut, Saint-Paulin, Fontina, Butterkäse, Monterey Jack and Colby belong here, and so does Kalimpong cheese from the hills of West Bengal.
What makes a cheese semi-soft
Semi-soft cheeses are pressed lightly or not at all, and their curd is often washed: some of the whey is drawn off and replaced with water, which lowers the acidity and gives a sweet, mild paste. This washed curd is a different thing from a washed rind. The cheeses hold more moisture than cheddar but less than Brie, and most are eaten at one to three months, when they slice cleanly and melt smoothly. Some have small, irregular holes, called eyes, from gas made by the cultures.
Families of the style
Havarti from Denmark and Butterkäse, butter cheese, from Germany are the soft table cheeses of northern Europe. Port Salut and Saint-Paulin descend from the monastery cheese of Port-du-Salut in western France. Fontina from the Aosta Valley is the melting cheese of fonduta. In the United States, Monterey Jack and Colby, both nineteenth-century creations, are everyday slicing cheeses, and Wisconsin brick cheese is the traditional topping of Detroit-style pizza, melted right to the edge of the pan.
Kalimpong and the hills
Kalimpong cheese was started by Father André Butty, a Jesuit parish priest in the hill town of Kalimpong in West Bengal. It is a small wheel, white, slightly acidic and a little crumbly in the centre when young, with a smooth edible rind, and it grows stronger if left to ripen. It is made in small quantities and sold in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kolkata's New Market. In nearby Sikkim, Gouda-type cheese is made in the same hills, and Japan's Hokkaido dairies make many semi-soft cheeses for the table.
Worth knowing
- Havarti: Danish washed-curd cheese, mild and buttery
- Port Salut: Orange-rinded French cheese of monastic origin
- Fontina: Aosta Valley cheese for fonduta
- Monterey Jack: Californian slicing and melting cheese
- Colby: Wisconsin's mild, open-textured cheese
- Butterkäse: German butter cheese, soft and mild
- Brick cheese: Wisconsin cheese of Detroit-style pizza
- Kalimpong cheese: Small Himalayan wheel begun by a Jesuit priest
Good to know
- Semi-soft cheeses dry fast once cut, so wrap the cut face closely in paper.
- They slice best cold and taste best at room temperature.
- They are good melters for toasties, quesadillas and gratins.
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.
Semi-soft on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreMozzarella
A semi-soft Italian stretched-curd cheese made from cow or buffalo milk.Cow · Semi-soft · Milky and fresh
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreFetaφέτα
A crumbly Greek brined cheese made from sheep and goat milk.Sheep · Brined · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇳 IndiaKalari
A semi-soft cow or buffalo milk cheese from Jammu and Kashmir, dried and sautéed until gooey.Cow · Semi-soft · 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
🇬🇧 United KingdomStinking Bishop
A washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from Gloucestershire, ripened in perry.Cow · Semi-soft · Savoury and brothy
🇹🇷 TurkeyTelemeteleme peyniri
A semi-soft white cheese from Turkey made with mixed milks and fig sap.Mixed · Semi-soft · Tangy and lactic
🇺🇸 United StatesBergenost
A triple-cream Norwegian-style butter cheese from New York with green wax.Mixed · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy
🇺🇸 United StatesLiederkranz
A pungent American smear-ripened cow's milk cheese created in 1891 as a Limburger variant.Cow · Semi-soft · Pungent and funky
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreBlue cheese
A family of cheeses defined by blue-green mold veins created through deliberate inoculation and piercing.Cow · Semi-soft · Sharp and tangy-aged
🇧🇪 Belgium and 2 moreLimburger
A washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from Belgium known for its strong aroma and soft texture.Cow · Semi-soft · Salty
🇵🇸 Palestine and 1 moreNabulsi cheeseجبنة نابلسية
A white brined semi-hard cheese from Nablus, flavored with mahleb and mastic.Sheep · Brined · Salty
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreSireneбяло саламурено сирене
A crumbly, brined white cheese from Bulgaria made with sheep or goat milk.Mixed · Brined · Salty
🇬🇧 United KingdomLancashire cheese
A cow's-milk cheese from England with creamy, nutty, or crumbly varieties.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇪🇸 SpainMahónformatge de Maó / queso de Mahón
A cow's-milk cheese from Menorca that ranges from soft and mild to hard and sharp.Cow · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy
🇫🇷 FranceSaint-PaulinSaint Paulin
A semi-soft French cow's milk cheese with a washed orange rind and buttery flavour.Cow · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy
🇫🇷 FranceChabichou
A cylindrical French goat cheese with a natural rind, aged for two to three weeks.Goat · Semi-soft · Tangy and lactic
🇪🇸 SpainGarrotxa
A semi-soft Catalan goat cheese with a powdery gray rind and earthy flavor.Goat · Semi-soft · Earthy and cellar
🇬🇧 United KingdomTintern
A soft, blended cow's milk Cheddar flavoured with chives and shallots, wrapped in lime green wax.Cow · Semi-soft · Herbal and grassy
🇬🇧 United KingdomStinking Bishop
A washed-rind Gloucestershire cheese ripened in perry from the Stinking Bishop pear.Cow · Washed rind · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreMozzarella
A semi-soft Italian stretched-curd cheese made from cow or buffalo milk.Cow · Semi-soft · Milky and fresh
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Kalari: Zeeshanqazi786, CC0, source
- Mahón: Slastic, Public domain, source
- Lancashire cheese: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Tintern: Dave Crosby, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Chabichou: Mark Baker, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sirene: Иван, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Feta: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nabulsi cheese: رائد عزمي حموده, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- St Tola: HighKing, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Stinking Bishop: Gilgongo, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bergenost: Jon Sullivan, CC0, source
- Mozzarella: Popo le Chien, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Blue cheese: No machine-readable author provided. Brookie assumed (based on copyrig, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Limburger: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Saint-Paulin: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Garrotxa: Government of Catalonia, Attribution, source
- Stinking Bishop: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Mozzarella: Photograph by Greg O'Beirne, CC BY-SA 3.0, source