Imported Cheeses from Europe
Map from Europe
If you would like to know more about the cheeses their histories and their flavours, just click on the cheese name. You are welcome.
Dutch smoked Cheese
Dutch Gouda aged
Dutch Gouda Cumin
French Le delice de Bourgogn
French Buche de Chevre
French St. Agur
French Blue d´Auvergne
French Munster Weiss
French Tomme de Chevre
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- French Raclette
- French Morbier
- French Mimolette
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Cheese from Switzerland
Swiss Gruyere
Gruyère is a hard yellow cheese made from cow's milk, named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland, and originated in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne.
Gruyère is sweet but slightly salty, with a flavor that varies widely with age. It is often described as creamy and nutty when young, becoming with age more assertive, earthy, and complex. When fully aged (five months to a year) it tends to have small holes and cracks which impart a slightly grainy mouthfeel. To make an 80 kg (176 lb.) round of Gruyère cheese, about 8000 litres (2110 gallons) of milk are used.
Swiss Raclette Cheese
Raclette is also a dish indigenous to parts of Switzerland, Wallonia and France. The Raclette cheese round is heated, either in front of a fire or by a special machine, then scraped onto diners' plates; the term raclette derives from the French racler, meaning "to scrape". Traditionally, it is accompanied by small firm potatoes (Bintje, Charlotte or Raclette varieties), gherkins, pickled onions, dried meat, such as prosciutto and viande des Grisons, sliced peppers, tomato, onion, mushrooms, pears, and dusted with paprika and fresh-ground black pepper.
In the Swiss canton of Valais, raclette is typically served with tea or other warm beverages. Another popular option is to serve raclette with white wine.
Raclette was mentioned in medieval writings as a particularly nutritious meal consumed by peasants in mountainous Switzerland. It was then known in the German-speaking part of Switzerland as Bratchäs, or "roasted cheese." Traditionally, the Swiss cow herders used to take the cheese with them when they were moving cows to or from the pastures up in the mountains. In the evenings around the campfire, they would place the cheese next to the fire and, when it had reached the perfect softness, scrape it on top of some bread.
A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables, charcuterie, and perhaps seafood. Diners create their own small packages of food by cooking small amounts of meat, vegetables and seafood on the griddle. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small, wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese. Alternatively, slices of cheese may be melted and simply poured over food on the plate. The accent in raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. French and other European supermarkets generally stock both the grill apparatus and ready-sliced cheese and charcuterie selections, especially around Christmas. Tasty & Delicious also provide raclette evenings for parties or dinner.
Swiss Emmental
Emmental or Emmentaler is a cheese from Switzerland. It is sometimes known as Swiss cheese in North America, Australia and New Zealand, although Swiss cheese does not always imply Emmentaler.
The cheese originally comes from the Emme valley in the canton of Bern. Unlike some other cheese varieties, the denomination "Emmentaler" was not protected ("Emmentaler Switzerland" is, though). Hence, Emmentaler of other origin, especially from France and Bavaria, is widely available. Even Finland is an exporter of Emmentaler cheese.
Emmentaler is a yellow, medium-hard cheese, with characteristic large holes. It has a piquant, but not very sharp, taste. Three types of bacteria are used in the production of Emmentaler: Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus, and Propionibacterium freudenreichii. In the late stage of cheese production, P. freudenreichii consumes the lactic acid excreted by the other bacteria, and releases carbon dioxide gas, which slowly forms the bubbles that make holes.
Cheese from Holland
Old Amsterdam
Old Amsterdam is a Gouda type of cheese originating from North Holland. The brand was invented in 1985 by Westland Kaasspecialiteiten B.V. . It is a cheese made from a recipe owned by the Westland Family. Designed to "age" quickly this cheese at 4 months old it is ready to be sold and "Old Amsterdam" tasting as if it were a 12+ month old cheese.
Dutch Leerdamm
Leerdammer is a Dutch semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk. It takes around 3–12 months to ripe. It has a creamy white texture and was made to be similar in appearance and flavor to Emmental, but it is rounder in taste.
It has a sweet and somewhat nutty flavour that becomes more pronounced with age. It also has distinct holes in it.
In a past advertisement campaign this was made use in claiming jokingly that "the taste is around the holes".
Leerdammer cheese is produced in Schoonrewoerd in the municipality of Leerdam, the city which gave Leerdammer its name. Generic Leerdammer style cheese is sold as Maasdam cheese.
Maasdamm Cheese
Maasdam cheese is a Dutch cheese in a Swiss-style. Made from cow's milk, it is aged for 4 weeks or longer. It ripens faster than other Dutch cheeses. Maasdam has internal holes from the ripening process, and a smooth yellow rind.
Sometimes it is waxed like Gouda. The cheese was created to compete with the popular Swiss Emmental by being less expensive and quicker to produce. In the process of making a cheese with the same general components as Swiss cheeses, the Dutch ended up with a cheese that is nutty and sweet, but softer than Emmental due to a higher moisture content.
The style was introduced in 1984 by the Baars company as the trademarked Leerdammer cheese, though it is now made by other Dutch companies under the name Maasdam.
Cheese from Danmark
Danish Havarti
Havarti or Cream Havarti (Fløde Havarti in Danish) is a semi-soft Danish cow's milk cheese. It is a table cheese that can be sliced, grilled, or melted.
Havarti cheese was initially created by Hanne Nielsen who operated an experimental farm called Havarthigaard, in Øverød, north of Copenhagen, in the mid-19th century.
Havarti is made like most cheeses, by introducing rennet to milk to cause curdling. The curds are pressed into cheese molds which are drained, and then the cheese is aged. Havarti is a washed curd cheese, which contributes to the subtle flavor of the cheese.
Havarti is an interior-ripened cheese that is rindless, smooth and slightly bright-surfaced with a cream to yellow color depending on type. It has very small and irregular openings ("eyes") distributed in the mass.
Havarti has a buttery aroma and can be somewhat sharp in the stronger varieties, much like Swiss cheese. The taste is buttery, and from somewhat sweet to very sweet, and it is slightly acidic. It is typically aged about three months, though when the cheese is older it becomes more salty and tastes like hazelnut. When left at room temperature the cheese tends to soften quickly.
Cheese from Spain
Spanish Manchego
Manchego (officially Queso Manchego) is a cheese made in the La Mancha region of Spain from the milk of sheep of the Manchega breed, which is aged for between 60 days and two years.
Manchego has a firm and compact consistency and a buttery texture, and often contains small, unevenly-distributed air pockets.
The colour of the cheese varies from white to ivory-yellow, and the inedible rind from yellow to brownish beige.
The cheese has a distinctive flavour, well developed but not too strong, creamy with a slight piquancy, and leaves an aftertaste that is characteristic of sheep’s milk.
Cheese from Italy
Gorgonzola from Italy
Gorgonzola is a veined Italian blue cheese, made from unskimmed cow's and/or goat's milk. It can be buttery or firm, crumbly and quite salty, with a 'bite' from its blue veining.
It has been made since the early Middle Ages, but became marbled with greenish-blue mold only in the eleventh century. It is frequently used in Italian cooking.
The name comes from Gorgonzola, a small town near Milan, Italy, where, it is reported, the cheese was first made in 879; however, this claim of geographical origin is disputed by other towns.
Gorgonzola is made in the regions of Piedmont and Lombardy from whole cow's milk, to which is added lactic acid bacteria, along with spores of the mold Penicillium glaucum.
Gorgonzola is typically aged for three to four months. The length of the aging process determines the consistency of the cheese.
A firm Gorgonzola is aged longer than creamy Gorgonzola. The cheese is usually packaged and sold in a foil wrapper.
Gorgonzola may be consumed in many ways. It may be melted into a risotto in the final stage of cooking, for instance. Another fairly traditional dish sees gorgonzola served alongside polenta. Pasta with gorgonzola is a dish appreciated almost everywhere in Italy by gorgonzola lovers; usually gorgonzola goes on short pasta, such as penne, rigatoni, mezze maniche, or sedani, not with spaghetti or linguine.
Because of its distinctive flavor, gorgonzola is frequently offered as a topping on pizza, alone or with other soft cheeses (this is the so-called pizza ai quattro formaggi which means four cheeses pizza).
Grana Padano
Grana Padano is one of the most popular Denominazione di Origine Controllata cheeses of Italy.(kind of parmesan cheese)
The name comes from the noun grana (‘grain’), which refers to the distinctively grainy texture of the cheese, and the adjective Padano, which refers to the valley Pianura Padana.
Like Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano is a semi-fat hard cheese which is cooked and ripened slowly (for at least 9 months, then, if it passes the quality tests, it will be fire-branded with the Grana padano trademark
Cheese from France
Saint Paulin Cheese from France
Saint Paulin is a creamy, mild, semi-soft French cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk, originally made by Trappist monks.
It is a buttery cheese, but firm enough for slicing. Saint Paulin is similar to havarti and esrom, and is suited to serving as a table or dessert cheese; it is often served with fruit and light wine.
Genuine Saint Paulin has an edible yellow-orange rind. It is ripened in a round loaf with slightly protruding sides, and matures in about four weeks.
Cheese from Greece
Kefalotyri - Greek Cheese
Kefalotyri (or Kefalotiri) is a hard, salty yellow cheese made from sheep milk and/or goat's milk in Greece and Cyprus.
In taste it vaguely resembles Gruyere, except it is harder and quite saltier. Being a very hard cheese, Kefalotyri is consumed as is, fried in olive oil for a dish called saganaki, or added to foods such as spaghetti, meat, or cooked vegetables, and is especially suited for grating.
This is a popular and well-known cheese, establishing its roots in Greece during the Byzantine era.
Cheese from England
Blue English Stilton
Stilton is a type of English cheese, known for its characteristic strong smell.
It is produced in two varieties: the well-known blue and the lesser-known white.
Both have been granted the status of a protected designation of origin by the European Commission, together one of only seventeen British products to have such a designation.
Only cheese produced in the three English counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire – and made according to a strict code – may be called "Stilton".
Blue Stilton is often eaten with celery or pears. It is also commonly added as a flavouring to vegetable soup, most notably to cream of celery or broccoli.
Alternatively it is eaten with various crackers, biscuits and bread. It can also been used to make a blue cheese sauce to be served drizzled over a steak, or can be crumbled over a salad.
Traditionally, port is drunk with blue Stilton. The cheese is traditionally eaten at Christmas.
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