Types of cheese#Moisture: soft to hard

Soft cheese is cheese, the water content in the non-fatty matter is more than 67%. Soft cheese must be made ​​from pasteurized milk, raw milk and milk thermized. Soft cheese made from raw milk are under EU law particularly stringent hygiene requirements.

The maturation of the curd goes from outside to inside. At higher temperatures, the ripening is faster. The more mature the cheese, the more he acquires the typical creamy soft consistency. Most of them only show with increasing maturity a soft consistency, which is often a solid core inside the dough gradually loses.

The surface of soft cheese is often treated with a fungal culture. This usually leads to the formation of a typical white layer of mold. The surface flora of soft cheese with grease is treated primarily with Brevibacterium linens and is therefore more or less moist. With the introduction of Penicillium candidum is bred today known as Camembert mold mold culture. The soft cheeses it may be: soft cheese with a washed rind and soft cheeses with mold, which is later superimposed by a white mold layer. The cheese with the Käserotflora, named red smear cheese, have a yellowish to reddish brown appearance. Some grows through the Rotschmiereoberfläche after some time white mold; it forms a closed Weis mold layer, eg Rougette. The penetration of light gray, small spots do not affect the quality of the cheese. Air of camembert cheese like little red spots, so this is a sign of the maturing of the cheese dough. Soft cheese with blue edible mold in batter usually have a white coating of mold and are milder in flavor than cheese with blue or white mold. They are often called white-blue - cheese.

Well-known varieties: Brie, Camembert, Coulommiers, Gorgonzola, Vacherin Mont- d'Or