White cheese includes a wide variety of cheese types discovered in different regions, sharing the sole common characteristic of their white hue. The specific type of white cheese can vary significantly depending on the geographical location.
Names
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gebna beda
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, jubna bayda – Akkawi, Jibneh Arabieh, Nabulsi cheese
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, bjalo sirene
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– Quark or brined white cheese
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, lefko tyri – any brined white cheese that is not feta
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, gvina levana
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– ricotta, mozzarella
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, belo sirenje
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– fresh Minas cheese
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– telemea
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– costeño cheese, cuajada, llanero cheese, Oaxaca cheese, panela cheese, queso de mano
White cheese by region
The Americas
In
Latin America, queso blanco (
Spanish language) or queijo branco (Portuguese) refers to various white cheeses, with the specific type varying by region.
Queso blanco is considered an easy cheese to make, as it requires no careful handling and does not call for rennet or bacterial culture. It is usually made by heating whole fresh milk to near-boiling, adding an acidifying agent such as vinegar, stirring until curds form, then draining the curds in cheesecloth for three to five hours. Such cheeses are also known as "bag cheeses," as the curds are normally hung in a bag of cheesecloth to drain. As it is highly perishable, it must be refrigerated or used immediately once the whey has drained out.
Queso blanco and queso fresco may be eaten alone or added to other dishes. They are often used as a topping for spicy Mexican dishes such as and or crumbled over soups or salads. Meltable versions are used to make .
The following cheese names may refer to queso blanco in the Spanish-speaking world or be considered similar to any of its local varieties: Asadero cheese,
Brazil
In Brazilian cuisine, white cheese goes by the name queijo branco ().
Minas cheese, a Brazilian cheese, is usually fresh.
Colombia
On the Caribbean coast, the most popular cheese is
queso costeño. It can be either hard and salty or soft and low in salt. People mainly have it with breakfast, in dishes like
mote de queso, or grated in foods like arepas and bollos (especially the hard and salty kind). One variation is known as
queso de capa de Mompós.
Mexico
Mexican cuisine features two main variations of white cheese. queso blanco, traditionally made from cow's milk, and queso fresco (), which may include a combination of cow's and goat's milk. While certain types like
Oaxaca cheese melt when heated, the majority simply become soft when exposed to heat.
If it is pressed, and more water is removed, it becomes known as queso seco.
In regions such as Guerrero, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, goat's milk cuajada (curd) is utilized in desserts like gorditas de cuajada and panes de dulce.
In Jalisco, where it is commonly known as panela, this cheese variety is employed in crafting pan de cuajada and tamales de cuajada.
Many Mexican cuisine home cooks make their own instead of purchasing it; when made for the evening meal, it is often prepared in the early afternoon and left to drain until evening.
Dominican Republic
In Dominican Republic cuisine
queso blanco is a firm, salty cheese used for frying:
queso frito.
Nicaragua
In Nicaraguan cuisine,
queso blanco is a firm cheese used for frying:
queso frito. Cheese is one of the most popular dairy products in the daily diet. You can find various kinds, including
cuajada fresca (fresh curd),
cuajada ahumada (smoked curd) with and without chili, and
cuajada ahumada with spices. The smoking process varies. They shape small balls, put them on a wooden grill called
tapezco, and light a fire underneath using firewood that produces lots of smoke. Another way is to bake them in an oven for 10 minutes until they turn golden and get that smoky flavor. People enjoy these cheeses with
güirila or corn tortillas, or use them as fillings in
tamales. They also mix cheese into corn
masa in
revueltas and use it as a filling in griddled
quesadillas, or add
rapadura de dulce or sugar for fillings in oven-baked
empanadas.
Peru
In
Peruvian cuisine, several recipes mix
queso fresco and spices to make a spicy cold sauce eaten over peeled boiled potatoes, such as
papa a la huancaína or
ocopa.
Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rican cuisine,
queso blanco is a firm cheese used for frying and typically paired with guava paste. The cheese also goes by
queso fresco and queso blanco del país. Although still popular, it has been losing consumers due to higher-quality cheese becoming available on the island.
Venezuela
Venezuelan cuisine has a large diversity of white cheese (
quesos blancos), varying in texture and flavor, usually named after a geographical region. Examples include
queso blanco duro (hard white cheese called
llanero),
queso semi-blando (semi-soft cheese, called
paisa or
palmita), or very tender types like
guayanés cheese or
queso de mano. The hard version is grated as a side for the national dish
pabellón, and it's also used as a topping for pasta and as a filling for
arepas and
empanadas. The softer types are used as fillings for
arepas and
cachapas.
Eurasia and North Africa
White cheese is a traditional food in
Balkan and
Middle east regions.
Most cheese produced in the middle east is white cheese, and most is pickled in salty brine, it is common to soak cheese in water to desalt it prior to consumption, in warm areas with no access to refrigeration, brining is an effective method for conserving cheese. While the preparation method and ingredients of the different cheeses may differ, there are many instances where different varieties of cheese do not possess a well documented name.
Central and Eastern Europe
Quark, a type of fresh cheese in Central and Eastern Europe, is known by different names in various regions, such as twaróg (Polish), tvorog (Russian), topfen (Austrian), biezpiens (Latvian), and varškė (Lithuanian).
Cyprus
Halloumi cheese is a very popular Cypriot cheese, usually made from sheep or goat milk, with a semi-hard to hard texture, but is elastic when heated.
Egypt
Domiati, a soft, white, salty cheese, is primarily produced in Egypt and some Middle Eastern countries.
France and Belgium
Fromage blanc is a fresh cheese from France and Belgium.
Greece
Greece offers a range of white cheeses. Among these options are
feta, a brined curd cheese.
Manouri, a semi-soft, fresh white whey cheese, is crafted from goat and/or sheep milk whey remaining after cheese production.
Mizithra, another choice, is an unpasteurized fresh cheese. It's a Greek traditional delicacy made using milk and whey sourced from sheep and/or goats.
Italy
Italy has a variety of white cheeses. Among them,
Asiago cheese is a cow's milk cheese known for its varying textures according to its aging, from smooth for the fresh Asiago (Asiago Pressato) to a crumbly texture for the aged cheese (Asiago d'allevo) of which the flavor is reminiscent of Parmesan. Another Italian cheese is
Mascarpone, a cheese made from cream, coagulated by the addition of citric acid or acetic acid.
Mozzarella, originally from southern Italy, is a fresh cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo and later cow's milk by the pasta filata method. There also is
Ricotta, a whey cheese made from sheep (or cow, goat, or Italian water buffalo) milk whey left over from the production of cheese.
Levant
In Levantine cuisine, a variety of white cheeses exist, including:
Akkawi, a salty, brined, and semi-hard white cheese that is named after the city of Akka,
Nabulsi cheese, a cheese flavored with mastic and
prunus mahaleb often used in making knafeh nabulsieh, it is named after the city of
Nablus,
baladi cheese, a fresh cheese typically made from goat milk, it sometimes called
mountain cheese due to the fact its often made in the mountains of
Lebanon, and
mujaddal cheese, a sort of
braided cheese.
There are also varieties of fermented cheese common to this region, like shanklish.
The Philippines
In Philippine cuisine,
kesong puti, a soft, white cheese, similar to
queso blanco and cottage cheese, is made from unskimmed carabao's milk, salt and rennet.
Portugal
In Portuguese cuisine, queijo fresco () refers to a popular mild, soft, creamy, white
green cheese used throughout the Iberian Peninsula. In the
Azores queijo fresco is typically served with the fresh pepper sauce pimenta de terra.
Romania
Caș is a type of semi-soft white fresh cheese made from sheep or cow milk, produced in Romania. Another type of white cheese traditionally made in Romania is
telemea, a salty variety, made of sheep or cow milk.
Turkey
Beyaz peynir is a salty, white cheese made from unpasteurized sheep (or cow) milk. The cheese has a slightly grainy appearance and is similar to Greek
feta cheese.
Southeastern Europe
Sirene, / Sirenje (Bulgarian: сирене, pronounced ˈsirɛnɛ; Macedonian: сирење, pronounced ˈsireɲe; Serbian/Croatian: сир, sir, Albanian: djath i bardhe) or known as "white brine sirene" (Bulgarian: бяло саламурено сирене, ˈbjaɫo; is a type of brine cheese made in South-Eastern Europe, especially popular in Bulgaria, the Republic of North Macedonia and other Balkan countries.
