The art of cheesemaking is filled with terms and words which may not be familiar to most people. This glossary of commonly-used cheese terms include words describing the aroma, texture and flavour of cheese, as well as technical terms used in cheesemaking and other obscure examples! So at your next dinner party, try impressing your guests by throwing in a few of these...

Acid:

Used to describe a slightly sour flavour.

Body:

Designates the physical consistency of cheese. The body may be soft, firm, hard, semi-soft, waxy, resilient, flaky or crumbly. Body is largely dependent on moisture content: the higher the moisture content, the softer the cheese.

Brine Solution:

Mixture of water and salt used for salting some cheeses, and for storing and pickling Fetfa and Haloumi cheese.

Butterfat:

A term used to describe the fat content of milk or cheese.

Casein:

The main protein of milk, which is made up of essential amino acids. It is transformed by lactic acid and rennet to form the curd which becomes cheese.

Cheddaring:

A cheese that is 'cheddared' has the drained curd particles fused into a mass for about one-and-a-half hours before milling, salting and forming into individual cheeses.

Cooked:

A step in the cheesemaking process when the curd and whey is warmed. Hard cheeses such as Cheddar, Romano, Emmental and other Swiss types are "cooked".

Creamy:

Used to describe both the taste and sometimes the body of certain cheeses.

Crumbly:

The condition of a cheese that breaks away when cut – often applicable to Blue cheeses and aged hard cheeses such as vintage Cheddars.

Curd:

The coagulated portion of milk consisting of protein, fat, water and a small amount of milk and sugar (lactose).

Curdling:

An early stage in cheesemaking when milk is coagulated.

Curing:

The stage in the cheesemaking process when a cheese is left to ripen. Also known as maturing or ageing.

Eyes:

Holes produced in the body of the cheese from bubbles of gas formed during fermentation. Spherical in shape, they may vary in size from pinholes to holes the size of a thumbnail.

Fresh Cheese:

A cheese that does not undergo a ripening period - e.g. Cottage Cheese, Cream Cheese, Ricotta.

Hard:

Descriptive term for cooked cheeses. Refers to the body texture.

Holes:

Openings in the body of cheese. They may be jagged (mechanical) or slightly rounded.

Interior Ripened:

The process of ageing or maturing the cheese to develop the aroma and flavour. In some cheeses, gas is produced which forms 'eyes' as in Edam, Gouda and Swiss style cheeses.

Lactic:

Milk aroma, sometimes flavour, of certain cheeses.

Mild:

Used to broadly denote a soft, almost gentle taste in cheese.

Moulds:

Moulds can be on the surface or the interior of the cheese. Surface mould development depends on seeding the cheese with spores of white Penicillium moulds. Internal moulds result from the introduction of spores of blue Penicillium moulds to create blue veined cheeses. Some cheeses (such as Blue Brie) have both a surface mould and an internal mould.

Mushroomy:

Descriptive term for cheese flavour and aroma that is earthy, rich and comples. Used mainly to describe some soft and semi-soft cheeses, particularly members of the soft white (Brie and Camembert) cheese family.

Nutty:

Flavour description of certain cheeses, often refers to a hazelnut flavour.

Open:

Texture description referring to a cheese which contains openings and holes in its body. The opposite is close.

Pasta Filata:

Italian cheese of the stretched curd variety.

Penicillium:

Moulds that are developed on the surface of bloomy rind cheeses (Camembert, Brie) and internally in Blue cheeses (see also moulds).

Piquant:

Descriptive term for a sharp tasting cheese. Usually applied to hard grating style cheeses such as Parmesan, Romano and Pecorino.

Processing:

General term used to denote the various treatments of milk (for example, pasteurization). The term also refers to the various manufacturing processes in milk treatment, cheese making, butter making and most commonly, for the heat treatment of cheese in the presence of an emulsifying agent.

Rennet:

An enzyme which coagulates milk. Rennet can be from animal origin, and alternative coagulates of microbial or plant origins are also used in cheesemaking.

Rind:

The protective external surface of a cheese. Rinds can be thick or thin, hard or soft, washed, coated, oiled, or made up of cloth and wax. Their prime role is to protect the interior of the cheeses and allow it to ripen and develop. In some cases their presence influences the final characteristics of the cheese.

Ripe:

When a cheese reaches its peak of flavour.

Skimmed Milk:

When part or all of the cream has been removed from milk, the milk is referred to as skimmed. Cheeses made from such milk have a lower fat content than usual.

Starter:

A bacterial culture which produces lactic acid from milk sugar (lactose).

Surface Ripened:

The ripening takes place from the surface of the cheese towards the centre. Surface ripened cheeses typically develop an edible rind or crust which influences the flavour and body of the cheese.

Tangy:

Descriptive term used to denote a cheese's flavour, usually meaning sharp, distinctive and flavoursome.

Texture:

The manner of union of the particles that make up the cheese. The cheese may be open (with holes) or close (without holes). Holes may be small and numerous or large and sparse. Random shaped or jagged holes are described as "mechanical", while regular round shiny holes as in Edam, Gouda or Swiss types are "eyes" (see eyes).

Washed Rind Cheese:

The rinds of certain cheeses are regularly washed while they are being ripened. The purpose of this is to keep the cheese moist and supple, and to ensure it does not dry out. Such washings can be done with elements as varied as salt water or brandy, so the process can play a large part in the final flavour of the cheese. Some of the strongest smelling and tasting cheeses in the world are washed rind varieties.

Whey:

In the curd forming process, it is the by-product after the curds have been removed. Whey is the liquid portion of the milk that has been separated from the solid, and contains most of the milk sugars.