Cheese

More than 400 varieties of cheese are available worldwide, all deriving from milk. Cheeses are categorized in several ways, including hard, soft, unripened, and ripened. Unripened cheeses are made by coagulating milk proteins--or casein--with acid. These include soft varieties such as cream cheese, cottage cheese, and Neufchatel. Ripened cheeses are made by coagulating milk proteins with enzymes-- or rennet--and culture acids. The cheeses are then ripened by bacteria or mold. Examples of bacteria-ripened cheese include hard varieties such as cheddar, Swiss, Colby, brick and parmesan. Mold-ripened cheeses include hard and soft varieties on the order of blue, Roquefort, Camembert, and Brie.