Key takeaways
- Almost every cheese starts the same way: warm milk, cultures, then rennet or acid to set it into curds.
- What happens to the curds next (pressing, a rind, mould, ageing) decides which cheese you get.
- The milk matters too: goat’s milk tends to be tangier, sheep’s and water buffalo richer.
Almost every cheese starts the same way. Milk (usually cow, goat, sheep or water buffalo) is warmed and soured with bacterial cultures. Then rennet or an acid makes it set into a soft gel. That gel is cut into curds, which separate from the liquid, called whey. The curds are drained, salted and shaped.
What happens next is where cheeses go their separate ways. Fresh cheeses are eaten right away. Others are pressed, given a rind, washed, pierced so blue mold can grow, or aged for months or years. That's why the same milk can become ricotta, Brie or Parmigiano Reggiano.
The milk matters too. Goat's milk cheeses tend to be tangier, while sheep's and water buffalo milk are richer in butterfat, which gives creamier cheeses. More on that in What are the different types of cheese?