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)

In making this lower-fat version of Appenzeller Cheese, less water is added while making the cheese, and a lower cooking temperature is used for the curds. Different starter cultures reduce the speed of the fermentation, which in term lets more water...

Ardrahan Cheese

Ardrahan is a semi-firm, washed-rind cheese. Inside the cheese is butter-coloured, with a texture something like a firm camembert. As the cheese ages, it takes on a smokey, tangy flavour. The thin, crusy rind is slightly sticky, and has a salty,...

Asadero Cheese

Asadero is an off-white, semi-firm Mexican cheese often sold in a log shape for convenient and easy slicing. It is an excellent cooking cheese: when it melts, it becomes quite creamy without giving off any oil, even at higher temperatures. It has a...

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. It is made in the areas of Basilicata, Calabria and Molise, in southern Italy. To make the cheese, the curd is spin, then the cheese is moulded around a small piece...

Buxlow Paigle

Buxlow Paigle is currently (2004) the only cheese made in Suffolk, England. The cheese is made by Margaret Reeve, using milk from the herd of Friesian cows kept by her husband Will at Church Farm in Friston, near Aldeburgh. Will Reeve runs an "automatic...

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.