🐄 Cheeses by type of milk

Cheese by milk type is a way of grouping cheeses by the animal whose milk was used: cow, goat, sheep, buffalo or yak. The milk shapes the taste, colour, fat content and texture of the cheese.

The Codex General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms, CXS 206-1999, defines milk as the normal mammary secretion of milking animals, and cheese can be made from any of them. For EU protected names, however, the specification fixes the species: Roquefort is made only from sheep's milk, feta from sheep's milk or with up to 30% goat's milk, and Mozzarella di Bufala Campana only from buffalo milk. ¹⁵

Cow's milk is the most common raw material; beta-carotene gives its cheeses a yellowish tint. It is used for Gouda, cheddar, Camembert and Parmigiano Reggiano. Goat's milk gives a white cheese with a light tang and the typical notes of caproic and caprylic acids, as in French chèvre and Norwegian geitost. Sheep's milk has more than twice the fat of cow's milk and almost twice the protein: 7 g of fat and 5.98 g of protein against 3.25 g and 3.15 g per 100 g ⁶. So a litre yields more cheese: Roquefort, pecorino, Manchego, bryndza. Buffalo milk is also very rich and white; it is used for mozzarella and, in India, often for paneer. Yak milk is used in the Himalayas for hard dried chhurpi. Many cheeses are mixed: halloumi is made from sheep's and goat's milk, often with cow's milk added.

How to choose. Look on the label for the type of milk and whether it is raw or pasteurised. If you are wary of strong flavours, start with fresh goat's cheese or young sheep's cheese. A cheese board with one cheese from each milk is the easiest way to taste the difference.

Why this matters to you: the type of milk explains much of the difference between cheeses even before ripening. Knowing it, you can predict the taste of an unfamiliar cheese, tell real feta from cow's milk white cheese in brine and match a cheese to a dish or a wine.