Oka cheese has a pungent aroma and soft creamy flavour, sometimes described as nutty and fruity. Oka is covered with a copper-orange, hand-washed rind. The consistent high-quality of care lavished on this distinctively fragrant cheese options it as an excellent substitute for many semi-soft ripened cheeses in any dish — or as a component on cheese platters.

There are four types of Oka cheese, regular, classic, light and providence. ‘Regular’ Oka can be made from both pasteurized and raw cow’s milk. It is a pressed, semi-soft cheese that is surface ripened for some 30 days. The ‘Classic’ is ripened for an additional month. Aging is done in refrigerated aging cellars. The cheese rounds are placed on cypress slats and the cheeses are periodically turned and washed in a weak brine solution. ‘Providence’ Oka is of a much more creamy and soft texture then either ‘Classic’ or ‘Regular, while ‘Light’ is similar to ‘Regular’, but with a lower percentage of fat.

Oka cheese was heavily influenced by the work of the monks of the Cistercian Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac (fr. Abbaye Cistercienne d’Oka). Within a few years, through an affiliation with the Université de Montréal, the monastery created an agricultural school. Frequently called the Abbaye Notre-Dame-du-Lac, the Trappist monastery became well known for its Port-Salut cheese, made from a Breton recipe brought with them from France.

Gruyère is sweet but slightly salty, with a flavor that varies widely with age. It is often described as creamy and nutty when young, becoming with age more assertive, earthy, and complex. When fully aged (five months to a year) it tends to have small holes and cracks which impart a slightly grainy mouthfeel. To make an 80 kg (176 lb.) round of Gruyère cheese, about 800 litres (211 gallons) of milk are used.

Gruyère is generally known as one of the finest cheeses for baking, having a distinctive but not overpowering taste. In quiche, gruyère adds savoriness without overshadowing the other ingredients. It is a good melting cheese, particularly suited for fondues, along with Vacherin and emmental. It is also traditionally used in French onion soup, as well as in croque monsieur, a classic French toasted ham and cheese sandwich. Gruyere is also used in chicken and veal cordon bleu. It is a fine table cheese, and when grated, it is often used with salads and pastas. It is used, grated, atop le tourin, a type of garlic soup from France which is served on dried bread. White wines, such as riesling, pair well with gruyère. Sparkling apple cider and Bock beer are also beverage affinities.

To make Gruyère, raw milk is heated to 34 °C (93 °F) in a copper vat, and then curdled by the addition of liquid rennet. The curd is cut up into pieces the size of a grain of rice and stirred, releasing whey. The curd is cooked at 43 °C (109 °F), and raised quickly to 54 °C (129 °F). The pieces shrivel up, and the mixture is placed in molds to be pressed. After salting in brine, the cheese is ripened for two months at room temperature, generally on wooden boards. Gruyère can be cured for 3 to 10 months, with long curing producing a cheese of intense flavour.

Combining the flavor of aged parmesan with a pliant texture, Parrano is marketed as an Italian-style cheese. Taglines have included “The Dutch cheese that thinks it’s Italian” and “Sort of Italian.” However, Parrano is technically Gouda cheese although its flavor is more pronounced than that of traditional Gouda.

Parrano is a versatile cheese that is easy to shred, slice and melt. It is well suited for entertaining, cooking and snacking. Its flavor complements many different types of cuisine, especially Italian dishes.

Parrano won a gold medal at the 2006 World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, Wisconsin, for ‘Best of class, Gouda.’ It was also first runner up for the World Champion Cheese Title. Uniekaas is the exclusive producer of Parrano, a trademarked brand.

The style was introduced in 1984 by the Baars company as the trademarked Leerdammer cheese, though it is now made by other Dutch companies under the name Maasdam.

The cheese is handmade and covered in a hard, dark brown, inedible rind. It is aged for a few months and develops a nutty, buttery flavour, eaten fresh, often with quince jam. If aged longer, it becomes firm, dry and sharp and can be used for grating.

The Denomination of Origin for Idiazábal cheese was created in 1987 and defines the basic regulations for the product’s manufacture. Typically, unpasteurized milk from latxa breed of sheep is used, although in some cases the D.O. permits the use of milk from Carranzana breed, from the Encartaciones in Biscay. The D.O. also stipulates that the milk be curdled with the natural lamb curd, and permits external smoking of the cheese. The cheeses produced in the following towns in accordance with all the D.O. regulations, are therefore also protected by the Idiazábal D.O. : Urbia, Entzia, Gorbea, Orduña, Urbasa and Aralar. Recently some Basque Country farmers have begun to use hybrid Assaf sheep, which some maintain does not meet the Denomination of Origin for the cheese.

Idiazábal is an aged cheese, from semi-cured to cured, made exclusively from whole unpasteurized sheeps’ milk. It is produced by strong enzymatic coagulation. The pressed paste can be either uncooked or semi-cooked. It can eventually be externally smoked.

The milk used to produce Idiazábal must be whole unpasteurized, with a minimum of 6% fat. The milk coagulates at a temperature of 77 to 95 °F (25 to 35 °C), with the addition of natural lamb curd, resulting in a compact curdle after 30 to 45 minutes.

The curdle is cut in order to obtain rice-size grains, and then reheated to 34 to 38 °C (93 to 100 °F). In the case of coagulation at higher temperatures, the reheating temperature can reach 40 to 45 °C (104 to 113 °F). The reheated and shrunken paste dehydrates and is placed in molds where it may or may not be seasoned before pressing. Salting of the cheese is performed by rubbing the rind with dry salt, or by immersing the cheese in highly salted water for 24 hours. Finally, the cheeses are aged under cold and humid conditions avoiding mold, for at least two months.

The optional smoking takes place at the end of the aging process, using woods from the beech-tree, birch-tree, cherry tree or white pine. The intensity of the smoked qualities depends upon the type of wood and length of smoking. The cheeses are usually cylindrical in shape, although they are occasionally cone- or octagonal-shaped. The rinds of artisan cheeses may be engraved with drawings or symbols characteristic of the Basque culture. The rind is closed, smoked, waxy, without mold. The unsmoked cheeses have a yellow-beige color, while smoked cheeses are brownish.

The interior is compact, without air pockets or with only pin-head size holes, and is beige or pale yellow in color. The interior of the smoked cheeses has a brownish border. The taste is strong and pronounced, slightly acidic and piquant, buttery and consistent, with a characteristic sheep milk flavor. The smoked version is somewhat drier and stronger, with a pleasant aroma. The size of every cheese ranges from small to medium, with weights between 2 and 4 lb (0.91 and 1.8 kg).

Edam cheese has a very mild taste, is slightly salty or nutty, and has almost no smell when compared to other cheeses. It also has a significantly lower fat content than many other traditional cheeses being approximately 28 percent with an average protein content of 25 percent. Modern Edam is quite soft compared to other cheeses, such as Cheddar, due to its low fat content.

A major producer of Edam is the Friesland Foods company in The Netherlands. In the U.S., the May-bud brand is sold by the Churny Company, a subsidiary of Kraft Foods.

Mild Edam is considered compatible with fruit such as peaches, melons, apricots, and cherries. Aged Edam is often eaten with traditional “cheese fruits” like pears and apples. Like most cheeses, it is commonly eaten on crackers and bread. Pinot noir is a recommended wine to accompany this cheese.

Red Leicester, sometimes called Leicester, is an English cheese, made in a similar manner to Cheddar cheese, although it is crumblier; it is coloured orange by adding annatto extract during manufacture. Its mild flavour goes well with most food and wine or beer, and is good for Welsh rarebit

.Red Leicester is a cow’s milk cheese, originally from Leicestershire, England, and is named after the city of Leicester. It has a firm texture, which makes it suitable for grating, and it is a good choice for use in cheese on toast or with a baked potato.

The taste compliments fruit, pasta, and crackers and is often used in tarts or quiches. At its best, it has a slightly nutty taste. Even though it is called Red Leicester, there is no white or purple or yellow Leicester — all Leicester is red. The rind is reddish-orange with a powdery mould on it.

Although Red Leicester can be young or “old”, aged anywhere from four to nine months, the young Leicesters at the start of that range will be very mild: they often require at least six months to develop a tang. Farmhouse versions are also available. Farmhouse makers will mature it in cloth, the old way, to allow better flavour development.Versions of Red Leicester are also made in America.

Herrgårdsost starts as part-skim milk, usually pasteurized. Bacterial starters are introduced to the milk, including lactic acid bacteria, which acidify the milk, and propionic bacteria, which are responsible for producing the carbon dioxide that creates the holes. The soured milk is curdled with rennet and heated to no higher than 43°C. The whey is drained and the curd is pressed, forming a wheel, which is then salted in brine. Around two weeks later the cheese wheels are coated in wax. They are aged in this state usually for another three or four months, but often up to 12 or even 24 months.

The finished product is 39.5% water, 29% fat, 27% protein, and 1.5% salt.

Jarlsberg is a mild cow’s-milk cheese with large irregular holes or what are commonly referred to as “eyes”, originating from Jarlsberg, Norway.

Jarlsberg has a yellow-wax rind and a semi-firm yellow interior. The flavor is mild, buttery, nutty and slightly sweet. It is an all-purpose cheese, good both for cooking and for eating as a snack. It has a characteristic smooth, shiny-yellow body, and a creamy supple texture. Jarlsberg Special Reserve is produced in Norway in limited quantities. It is aged a minimum of one year and is distinguished by medium to large holes.

The history of this cheese can be traced back to the middle 1850s. Anders Larsen Bakke (1815–1899), was a farmer and entrepreneur and a pioneer in Norway’s dairy industry. He produced cheese in the Våle village in what was then the county of Jarlsberg and Larviks Amt (now Vestfold), 80 km south of Oslo. The cheese shares similarities with Emmenthal, introduced to Vestfold by Swiss cheese makers during the 1830s. The cheese (and Bakke’s accomplishments) was first noted in the annual county report of Jarlsberg and Larviks Amt 1855.

The Jarlsberg cheese that we know today is a result of a long period of research and development which was carried out by researchers at the Dairy Institute at the Agricultural University of Norway. The cheese making process was developed by Ola Martin Ystgaard, professor of the Agricultural University of Norway. Starting in 1956, Ystgaard and some of his students eventually came up with the recipe that is used today. Commercial production of cheese began in the 1960s.

The largest producer of Jarlsberg today is the TINE BA factory in Elnesvågen in western Norway.[citation needed] TINE is one of the twelve agricultural cooperatives in Norway and the largest Norwegian dairy product cooperative. The corporation domestically offers the entire spectrum of dairy products. In addition to Jarlsberg, TINE’s internationally known products include Snøfrisk goat cheese, Ridder cheese, and Ski-Queen (geitost). Jarlsberg accounts for 60% of TINE’s total export.

Jarlsberg is also produced in the United States on license at Alpine Cheese in Ohio, and by Dairygold in Ireland. In the United States alone it is sold in over 30,000 supermarkets and a ton of the cheese is eaten per hour