Semi-Firm Cheeses

Semi-Firm Cheeses. Alex Kosev / Canva Pro

Semi-firm cheeses are cheeses which hold their shape for slicing.

They are also referred to as semi-soft, semi-solid or semi-hard cheeses.

Characteristics

Semi-firm cheeses can be sliced but aren’t soft enough to spread; can be  shredded or crumbled, but aren’t hard enough to grate.

They tend to have a moisture level between 40 and 60%, and can be ripened or unripened.

Examples

Cheeses such as feta and buffalo milk mozzarella are semi-firm cheeses; Port du Salut and blue cheeses are examples of ripened semi-firm cheeses.

Types of semi-firm cheeses

Appenzeller Cheese Quarter Fat (Räss-Käse / Brown Label)

Appenzeller Räss-Käse (Brown Label) cheese is a lower-fat version of Appenzeller Cheese. It is made from 2% fat milk. It is good in fondues.

Ardrahan Cheese

Ardrahan cheese has a thin, crusty rind with a salty, nutty-taste. Inside the cheese is butter-coloured, with a texture something like camembert. As the cheese ages, it takes on a smokey, tangy flavour.

Asadero Cheese

Asadero is an off-white, semi-firm Mexican cheese with a light, fresh taste. It is an excellent cooking cheese: when it melts, it becomes quite creamy without giving off any oil, even at higher temperatures.

Blue Cheeses

A blue cheese is a cheese that has veins or blotches of blue in it, caused by the presence and growth in it of the Penicillium mould. As a result of the mould, it will have a distinctive coloration, aroma and taste.

Brunost Cheese

Brunost is a smooth, semi-firm light or darker-brown cheese with a sweet and sour caramel taste. It is made by boiling milk until it caramelizes.

Burrini Cheese

Burrini is a firm, pear-shaped, mild Provolone cheese with butter in the middle. You slice it so that you get butter and cheese in a slice.

Cacetto Cheese

Cacetto is a Provolone cheese, often with a filling of prosciutto, mushroom, olive, etc., in the middle. It may be made with milk from cows, water buffalos, sheep or goats.

Caerphilly Cheese

Caerphilly is a variety of cheddar cheese. It is a white, crumbly cheese with a sharp smell and a slightly sour tang. Originally from Wales, most is now made in England.

Cantal Cheese

Cantal Cheese is a semi-firm cheese made from cow's milk from up to three different breeds of cattle. There are both pasteurized milk and raw milk versions. Well-aged ones can be used for grating.

Carrigaline Cheese

Carrigaline Cheese is a semi-firm farmhouse cheese with a spongey-texture from the many small holes in it. It has a mellow, almost sweet taste. It is made in County Cork, Ireland.

Cheshire Cheese

Cheshire cheese has a semi-firm, crumbly texture, and a mildly-salty flavour that sharpens with age and is a bit more complex than cheddar. It is made from cow's milk, either pasteurized or raw.

Chihuahua Cheese

Chihuahua cheese is a Mexican pale yellow, semi-soft cheese with a flavour like that of Cheshire cheese, or of a mild white cheddar. It was first made by Mennonites.

Cotherstone Cheese

Cotherstone cheese is a semi-hard cheese with a sharp, slightly tangy taste. It is sold covered with yellow wax. Inside, the cheese has an "open" texture.

Criollo Cheese

Criollo cheese is a pale yellow, semi-firm cheese made around Taxco, Guerrero in Mexico. Good for grating.

Danbo Cheese

Danbo cheese is a semi-firm cheese made in Denmark from cow's milk. It is modelled on Swiss Emmenthal Cheese.

Danish Fontina Cheese

Danish Fontina is creamy yet semi-firm and pliable, with a mild taste. The red wax on the cheese is non-edible.

Durrus Cheese

Durrus is an Irish, semi-soft cheese with a washed, yellowish-grey rind made from raw cow's milk.

Edam Cheese

Edam Cheese is a semi-hard, pale yellow Dutch cheese with a mildly-tangy and slightly salty taste. There are two types: generic which can be made anywhere, and a protected-name type which can only be made in the Netherlands.

Farmer's Cheese

Farmer's Cheese can be thought of as a cottage cheese from which most of the moisture is pressed out of the curd, and which is then typically pressed into a loaf shape.

Fontal Cheese

Fontal is a semi-firm cheese made in flat cylinders. It is a pale straw colour and has a mild, nutty flavour, that is almost sweet with a touch of tartness.

Gamonedo Cheese

Gamonedo is a Spanish cheese with a thin, dark reddish, inedible rind. Inside, the cheese is white or yellowish white, with some small holes and a crumbly texture. It has a lightly-smoked, nutty taste.

Gaperon Cheese

Gaperon is a hard cheese with a spongy, supple texture made in Auvergne, France. A white velvet mould mottled with grey and blue patches grows on the hard rind.

Grimbister Cheese

Grimbister is a soft, crumbly Scottish farmhouse cheese made using raw milk. As the cheese ages, it develops a slightly lemony taste.

Huntsman Cheese

Huntsman Cheese is a layered cheese, consisting of layers of Double Gloucester cheese with layers of Stilton. The layering is done by hand.

Jalapeño Cheese

Jalapeño cheese is cheese — any cheese — with jalapeño peppers in it. The cheese may be semi-firm, or a soft one. You can also make your own at home.

Leerdammer Cheese

Leerdammer is a cheese developed to challenge Emmenthal's market share in Europe. The makers implemented several marketing innovations which contributed to the cheese's success.

Liederkranz Cheese

Liederkranz® is an American Limburger-style cheese with a strong aroma. Inside, the aged cheeses are soft, almost spreadable, and a honey colour. The rind is golden.

Livarot Cheese

Livarot is a soft, creamy cheese with a washed, yellow-orange rind. The rind can be eaten; most of the strong flavour is in the rind. There are five reinforcing bands around it.

Maasdam Cheese

Maasdam cheese is a less-expensive Dutch take on Emmenthal cheese. The cheese is pale yellow and semi-firm with large holes, a nutty taste and a creamy texture.

Manchego Cheese (Mexican)

Mexican Manchego Cheese is a rindless golden-yellow, semi-firm cheese with a slightly nutty taste. It can be used as a table cheese or for cooking.

Monterey Jack Cheese

Monterey Jack Cheese is a semi-soft white cheese that shreds and melts well. It has a mild flavour, and is often used in Tex-Mex cooking as an ingredient and as a garnish.

Morbier Cheese

Morbier cheese is a mild-tasting cheese with a golden-brown rind. Inside, it is pale yellow, and semi-firm yet creamy and supple, with some very small holes and a thin layer of white pine ash in the middle.

Mozzarella Cheese

Mozzarella is a fresh, stringy Italian cheese made from water buffalo milk made in pure white balls. The cheese has a creamy texture and a slight fresh tang to it, but otherwise little other taste. If it has a sour taste, it is getting old.

Pavé d'Auge Cheese

Pavé d'Auge is a generic name for soft, square, flat, washed-rind cheeses made in the Auge area of Normandy, France made from raw cow's milk.

Pavé d'Isigny Cheese

Pavé d'Isigny is a semi-firm cheese from Normandy, France, with a washed-rind orange crust. It is aged for 3 to 4 weeks.

Pont-l'Evêque Cheese

Pont-l'Evêque is square cheese with a white mould rind that has orangish-brown patches on it. Inside, the cheese is soft and pale yellow with a fine texture. The cheese is quite whiffy.

Quartirolo Cheese

Quartirolo is a soft, crumbly Northern Italian cheese with a slightly sour tang. There are fresh and aged versions.

Queso con Loroco

Queso con Loroco is a Central American sour white cheese with the texture of Italian mozzarella. It is flavoured with the herb called "loroco" in it, chopped up.

Ricotta Salata Cheese

Ricotta Salata is a dry, aged cheese made especially in Sicily and Sardinia.

Tetilla Cheese

Tetilla is a Spanish cheese with an inedible thin, pale yellow wax rind. Inside, the cheese is ivory-white with just a few holes. It is creamy and mild tasting, almost sweet.

Vacherin Fribourgeois

Vacherin Fribourgeois is either ivory coloured or light straw-yellow. It has a mild, nutty, slightly-acidic taste somewhat like Gruyère, but with a sharper edge owing to a longer aging period.

Wensleydale Cheese

Wensleydale cheese is a white, moist, crumbly cheese. It has a clean tang behind its mild taste. It may be made from cow's milk, sheep's milk, or a blend of both. The more sheep's milk, the whiter the cheese will be.