List of cheeses

This is a list of cheeses by place of origin. Cheese is a milk-based food that is produced in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms. Hundreds of types of cheese from various countries are produced. Their styles, textures and flavors depend on the origin of the milk, whether they have been pasteurized, the butterfat content, the bacteria and mold, the processing, and aging.
Herbs, spices, or wood smoke may be used as flavoring agents. The yellow to red color of many cheeses, such as Red Leicester, is normally formed from adding annatto. While most current varieties of cheese may be traced to a particular locale, or culture, within a single country, some have a more diffuse origin, and cannot be considered to have originated in a particular place, but are associated with a whole region, such as queso blanco in Latin America.
Cheese is an ancient food whose origins predate recorded history. There is no conclusive evidence indicating where cheesemaking originated, either in Europe, Central Asia or the Middle East, but the practice had spread within Europe prior to Roman times and, according to Pliny the Elder, had become a sophisticated enterprise by the time the Roman Empire came into existence.
In this list, types of cheeses are included; brand names are only included if they apply to a distinct variety of cheese.
Cheese production involves several steps, including curdling, coagulation, separation, shaping, and aging. The type of milk used, as well as factors like temperature, humidity, and bacterial cultures, can greatly impact the final product's flavor, texture, and appearance. Artisanal cheesemakers often employ traditional techniques and recipes passed down through generations, while larger commercial operations may utilize more modern and mechanized processes to produce cheese on a larger scale.

Africa

Algeria

Name	Image	Region	Description
Bouhezza		Aurès Mountains	Bouhezza is a ripened cheese that has traditionally been prepared by the Chaouia community between March and June. It has historically been made from raw goat or sheep milk with the addition of leben, salt, and additional raw milk. It has a soft, smooth, and spreadable texture and is slightly salty, spicy, and acidic, with an intense acidic lactic odor and aroma.
Kemariya		Ghardaia and Naâma	Produced by local women from the indigenous Wilaya community in southern Algeria, kemariya is a variety of smooth white cheese that is traditionally made with goat milk and can alternatively be made with cow’s milk or camel’s milk. It is also referred to as takkmerit by local Berbers.

Benin

Name	Image	Region	Description
Wagasi		Northern Benin	A soft cow's milk cheese commonly made by the Fulani people that is sold in many units in Parakou, a city in Central Benin.

Egypt

Name	Image	Region	Description
Areesh			A type of white, soft, lactic, crumbly cheese made from laban rayeb.
Domiati			A soft white cheese usually made from cow or buffalo milk. It is salted, heated, coagulated using rennet and then ladled into wooden molds where the whey is drained away for three days. The cheese may be eaten fresh, or stored in salted whey for up to eight months, then matured in brine. Domiati cheese accounts for about three-quarters of the cheese made and consumed in Egypt. The cheese takes its name from the city of Damietta and is thought to have been made as early as 332 BC.
Halumi			Similar to Cypriot halloumi, yet a different cheese. It may be eaten fresh or brined and spiced. The name comes from the Coptic word for cheese, "halum".
Istanbolly			A type of white cheese made from cow or buffalo milk, similar to feta cheese.
Mish			A sharp and salty product made by fermenting cheese for several months in salted whey. It is an important part of the diet of farmers. Mish is often made at home from areesh cheese. Products similar to mish are made commercially from different types of Egyptian cheese such as domiati or rumi, with different ages.
Rumi			A hard, bacterially ripened variety of cheese. It belongs to the same family as Pecorino Romano and Manchego. It is salty, with a crumbly texture, and is sold at different stages of aging. Although the texture and taste of Rumi cheese differ according to the aging period, it is usually sharp, strong, and pungent.

Ethiopia

Name	Image	Region	Description
Ayibe			A local cheese that is mild and crumbly. It has little flavor on its own, and is often served as a side dish to soften the effect of very spicy food.

Mauritania

Name	Image	Region	Description
Caravane cheese			The brand name of a camel milk cheese produced in Mauritania by Tiviski, a company founded by Nancy Abeiderrhamane in 1987. The milk used to make the cheese is collected from the local animals of a thousand nomadic herdsmen, and is very difficult to produce, but yields a product that is low in lactose. It is also available and consumed in Senegal.

Nigeria

Name	Image	Region	Description
Warankasi			A Yoruba cheese made from cow's milk.

South Africa

Name	Image	Region	Description
Kwaito			Kwaito is a South African gouda-style cheese made from cow's milk. It has a creamy texture and mild flavor. Apart from plain and smoked varieties, it may be flavored with peppercorns or other peppers.

Asia

Armenia

Name	Image	Region	Description
Aragatsyan panir		Aragatsotn	A semi-hard cheese made from high-quality sheep's milk or its mixture with cow's or goat's milk. It has a mild nutty flavor, soft texture, and a natural rind. Less salty than brined cheeses, with a fat content of 50% or higher.
Chanakh		Armenian Highlands	A traditional brined cheese with a sharp, salty flavor and firm, slightly brittle texture, aged in brine and shaped into blocks or truncated cones.
Chechil		Armenian Highlands	A brined string cheese that originated either in Armenia or in Georgia, it has a consistency approximating that of suluguni or mozzarella and is produced in the form of dense strings, rolled up in a figure eight of thick braid-shaped ropes.
Kanach panir		Shirak	A mold-ripened cheese known for its greenish appearance and crumbly texture. It is aged in clay pots or leather bags, where natural or introduced mold develops, giving the cheese a sharp flavor and soft texture. Commonly consumed in the Shirak Province, it is typically served fresh and not used in cooked dishes.
Lori		Lori	A semi-soft Armenian cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk. Similar to halloumi, its curds are boiled during production and the cheese is preserved in brine.
Motal		Syunik and Artsakh	A traditional Armenian brined cheese made primarily from sheep's milk or a mixture of sheep's and goat's milk. It is aged for several months in tki, leather containers made from animal hides, and may include herbs such as wild thyme. The cheese has a crumbly texture and a strong, distinctive flavor.
Tel panir		Armenian Highlands	Tel panir is a traditional Armenian string cheese made from strained, fermented milk. A type of chechil cheese, it’s known for its distinctive braided or threaded form.
Yeghegnadzor		Vayots Dzor	A semi-soft, aromatic cheese traditionally aged in clay vessels buried underground. Made from cow's or goat's milk with local herbs and seeds, it develops a sharp, salty flavor and creamy, slightly crumbly texture after at least six months of underground maturation. Also known as horats panir.

China

The dominant Han Chinese culture is not dairy-centric, in part due to low rates of lactase persistence. However, some indigenous sociolinguistic groups in regions of the country, such as Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Yunnan, have strong cheese traditions.

Name	Image	Region	Description
Byaslag			Mild, unripened Mongolian cheese made from yak or cow milk.
Chura kampo			is a Tibetan cheese and important within the cuisine of Tibet. Chura kampo is made from the curds that are left over from boiling buttermilk.
Chura loenpa			A Tibetan cheese that is significant within the cuisine of Tibet. It is a soft cheese, similar to cottage cheese, made from the curds that are left over from boiling buttermilk.
Nguri			A buffalo's milk cheese of Fujian province, China. It is in a ball-shape approximately the size of a table tennis ball and has a soft, leathery texture.
Rubing			A firm, fresh goat milk cheese made in the Yunnan Province of China by people of the Bai and Sani minorities. Pictured is fried rubing cheese.
Rushan			The name means "milk fan" as it is said to resemble a folding fan.