HARD CHEESE FOR GRATING

PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO

The prototype: a hard, tangy cheese made from cows’ milk in an area near Parma, Italy.

ROMANO

A southern Italian cheese, sharper and saltier and usually less expensive than Parmesan.

ASIAGO

“The poor man’s Parmesan”, a hard, dry cheese of the grana type, the name given to all cheese of this type in Italy.

CACIOCAVALLO

A white Italian cheese related to kashkaval, and other hard cheeses from the Balkans.

PECORINO ROMANO

Romano made from sheep’s milk.

RICOTTA SALAT

A hard, salty cheese made of cows’ milk.

AGED PROVOLONE

The familiar sausage shaped and pear-shaped cheeses that hang from the ceiling in Italian groceries.

AGED GOUDA

Made in Holland of cows’ milk, then aged so that it becomes hard and assertive in taste.

SAPSAGO

A very hard green cheese from Switzerland.

KASSERI

An aged cheese from Greece, particularly good in Greek dishes.

AGED MONTEREY JACK

An aged version of the glossy, semisoft cheese from Monterey County, CA.

KASHKAVAL

A salty cheese made from sheep’s milk in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.

ARGENTINE PARMESAN

Often a good substitute for Parmigiano-Reggiano. Just don’t pay top dollar for it.

MOIST, FRESH CHEESE

RICOTTA

A creamy, bland, rather sweet fresh cheese.

COTTAGE CHEESE

A white, unaged cheese made by draining off the whey that forms when cows’ milk is heated.

POT CHEESE

A regional name for cottage cheese.

FARMER CHEESE

Cottage cheese that has been drained and pressed, forming a dry, flaky brick.

CREAM CHEESE

A smooth, fresh cheese, usually mixed with carob and gums, but wonderful when unadulterated.

GOAT CHEESE

Fresh goat cheese becomes creamy when melted and adds a distinctive flavor to pasta.

BLUE-VEINED CHEESE

GORGONZOLA

A soft, creamy cheese with a blue-green mold.

DANISH BLUE or DANABLU

A mild blue-mold cheese made in Denmark with cows’ milk.

ROQUEFORT

The only blue-molk cheese made with sheep’s milk, made in France, with a sharp and salty taste.

BLUE DE BRESSE

Another French blue, this one of cows’ milk.

STILTON

The English blue-mold cheese, rich and creamy.

DOMESTIC BLUES

Such as Iowa Maytag.

SEMISOFT AND NUTTY

EMMENTAL

The model for all “Swiss cheese”; rubbery and mild, with round holes in the loaf.

GRUYERE

Smaller holes and a firmer, creamier texture than Emmenthal. From Switzerland.

APPENZELLER

Another Swiss-type cheese from Switzerland.

JARLSBERG

Swiss cheese from Norway.

SAMSOE

Danish Swiss cheese.

COMTE

Sometimes called French Gruyere.

AMERICAN SWISS

Whose name explains itself.

ITALIAN FONTINA

A creamy, nutty, whole-fat cheese in a yellow waxy rind.

BUTTERY AND BLAND, FOR MELTING

MOZZARELLA

Origianally made of buffalo milk, now of cows’ milk. Shiny and sweet-tasting, and a dream to melt.

MONTEREY JACK

A glossy semisoft cheese from CA.

DOMESTIC MUNSTER

Very creamy and very, very bland.

EDAM

One of the two famous Holland cheese; semihard, in a cannonball shape with a red wax coating.

DANISH FONTINA

Made of part-skim milk and covered with a red wax rind.

CREAM HAVARTI

A Danish cows’ milk cheese with a mild, sweet flavor.

TANGY AND CREAMY

CHESHIRE

A cows’ milk cheese from the British Isles, deep orange or white in color.

COLBY

A tangy, firm cow’s milk cheese named for Colby, WI.

CHEDDARS

From New York, Vermont, Wisconsin and Canada - excellent in quality, orange or white in color, also known as rat cheese, store cheese or american cheese.

CANTAL

A Cheddar-like cheese from France.

COON CHEESE

A well-aged American Cheddar.

DOUBLE GLOUCESTER

“The golden cheese” from Gloucester, England, whose cows give especially rich milk.

CAERPHILLY

A crumbly white cheese originally from Wales.

DELICIOUS CHEESE BALLS - DELICIEUSES AU FROMAGE

Mix about 2 oz. grated Swiss cheese with 1 egg white, lightly beaten, to 
make a thick mixture that can be shaped.  Form it into small balls, roll 
them in fine bread crumbs and drop them into hot deep fat or oil.  Remove 
the balls as soon as they puff and begin to brown.  Drain them on paper 
towels.  Serve as an hors-d'oeuvre.