If you love cheese, and appreciate its delicate nuances, then you will love our short, curated list of the Types of Cheesefor you. The experience in creating this list has been a personal journey of discovery of the impact cheese has on culinary expressions apart from the gastronomic experience of discovery exotic types of cheese. 

While Cheese Connoisseurs are known to lean towards the classic tastes of the hard and semi-hard cheese types such as le Gruyere, the majority cheese eaten is of the soft cheese variety. 

Therefore, in the journey to know more about cheese, the first step is to understand the different types of cheese. 

The classic way to classify cheese is by the method adopted to process the cheese. 

Types of Cheese: According To Process 

Fresh Cheese: The most easily available and perhaps the most commonly used type of cheese is fresh cheese. The uniqueness of this cheese is that, it is not aged. 

The common fresh cheese types are chevre, the goat cheese variety, ricotta, queso blanco, cottage cheese as well as fromage blanc. 

These cheese are to be eaten within a few weeks, while mozzarella, has to be consumed within a few days after it is made. Feta is another exception, for it can last in brine for months. 

Fresh cheeses are typically used in making salad and in cooking. 

Semisoft Cheese: These types of cheese retain more moisture and carries mild flavors, besides melting easily. 

The different types of Semisoft Cheese are Goudas, Monterey Jack or the Colby cheese. 

These are best for use in sandwich or grilled cheese varieties.

Soft or Ripened Cheese: are typically white and have a rind, which is bloomy. These cheeses are creamier and are special because these cheese cure from the outside. Cheese typically cures inside-out. This process of curing, where mold (penicillum candiddum) forms on the surface, therefore gives it that creaminess. 

Soft cheese varieties are the Camembert and Brie.

Surface-ripened Cheese: are cheese varieties with textured rind. The flavor of this cheese is unique to the yeasty-fungus growth of geotrichum, which gives it a mushroom taste or a goat-cheese taste. These cheeses are small-sized and barely weigh 6 ounces. They come in pyramid or cylindrical shapes. 

Most goat cheese are of this type and include the Loire Cheese, Vermont Butter or the Italian Cheese La Tur. 

While this is a brief overview of Types of cheese, there are other classifications of cheese, such as the region the cheese comes from.