Goat cheese, goat's cheese or chèvre (/ˈʃɛvrə/ or /ˈʃɛv/; from the Frenchfromage de chèvre, lit.'goat cheese')[1] is cheese made from goat's milk. Goats were among the first animals to be domesticated for producing food.[2] Goat cheese is made around the world with a variety of recipes, giving many different styles of cheeses, from fresh and soft to aged and hard.[3]
Properties
History
Goats produce high-quality, nutrient-rich milk under even the most difficult environments, making them valuable to arid or mountainous areas where cattle and sheep cannot survive.[4] In addition, like all animal products, goat milk is heavily influenced by what the goats are eating. Because goats have hardy digestive systems, they tend to eat many bitter plants that more delicate animals such as cows and horses will not.[5] Goats were one of the earliest animals domesticated to suit human needs—more specifically milk production—going back to 8,000 BC, 10,000 years ago.[2] Goat cheese has been made for at least as far back as 5,000 BC;[6] the first documented proof of humans making cheese of any kind dates to 7,500 years ago in Poland.
Nutritional value
Goat milk has higher proportions of medium-chain fatty acids, such as caproic and caprylic, which contribute to the characteristic tart/"goat" flavor of the cheese.[7] They also make goat milk and cheeses more easily digestible.[8]
Goat milk, and therefore goat cheeses, contain anti-inflammatory enzymes, probiotics, antioxidants, proteins, and lipids and help maintain a healthy metabolism. These fatty acids take their name from the Latin for 'goat', capra.[9] It is also high in calcium, vitamins A and K, phosphorus, thiamin, and niacin.[4] Overall, the consumption of 60 grams (2.1 oz) per day of cheese (both control and enriched), within the context of a balanced hypocaloric diet and recommendations for physical activity, was effective for the reduction of body weight, body mass index and waist circumference.[10]
Process
Goat cheese is made like other cheeses. The milk is filtered to remove unwanted impurities or deposits. A curdling starter agent is added, which can be rennet, or one or more starter bacteria that affect the curds' size and eventually the cheese's consistency. Some examples of starters are Lactococcus lactis lactis, L. l. cremoris, and Streptococcus thermophilus. Next, the cheese is molded and separated from the whey (the uncurdled liquid part of the milk). The curds are then molded, dried, flavored, and cured. Any variations in this process—the type of starter, the time or pressure of the draining, the temperature and duration of the curing process—can change the texture (soft, semihard, hard) and the flavor.[11]
Yagi cheese is a goat cheese made in Japan. Yagi is the Japanese word for goat.[12]
Philippines
Kesong puti cheese: Moisture content can also vary, ranging from almost gelatinous to pressed and firm. It can be eaten as is, paired with bread (usually pandesal), or used in various dishes in Filipino cuisine.
Kesong puti is a Filipino soft, unaged, white cheese made from unskimmed carabao milk and salt curdled with vinegar, citrus juices, or sometimes rennet. It can also be made with goat or cow milk. It has a mild salty and tart flavor. When an acidifying agent is used, it resembles queso blanco or paneer. When rennet is used, it resembles buffalo mozzarella. The name, also spelled quesong puti, is Tagalog for "white cheese") and is its name in the provinces of Laguna and Bulacan. In Cavite, it is known as kesilyo (also kasilyo or quesillo); while in northern Cebu, it is known as queseo or kiseyo.
Middle East
Akkawi cheese (Arabic: جبنة عكاوي, romanized: jubna ʿakkāwī, also Akawi, Akawieh and Ackawi) is a white brine cheese named after the city of Akka (Acre, present-day Israel).[3]
Darfyieh is a flavorful cheese that comes specifically from baladi goats and is treated as a delicacy in Dargyieh.[3]
Djamid or Jameed is an unripened, hard cheese with a salt encrusted rind popular in Jordan and Syria.[3]
Jibneh Arabieh (Arabic: جبنة عربية) (also jibni) is a soft white cheese found all over the Middle East. It is particularly popular in the Persian Gulf region. The cheese has a mild taste similar to feta but less salty. The heritage of the product started with Bedouins using goat or sheep milk; however, current practice is to use cow's milk to make the cheese. Jibneh Arabieh is used for cooking, or simply as a table cheese.[3]
Labneh is consumed in many parts of the world. It is primarily produced in Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan but also throughout much of the Middle-east. It can be served with olive-oil, or seasoned with mint, eaten with salad or as dessert.[3]
Nabulsi cheese Nabulsi or naboulsi is one of a number of Palestinian white brined cheeses made in the Middle East and Palestine. Its name refers to its place of origin, Nablus and it is well known throughout the West Bank and surrounding regions. Nabulsi, along with Akkawi cheese, is one of the principal cheeses consumed in Jordan. It is produced primarily from sheep milk; alternatively, goat's milk may be used.
Sirene cheese (Albanian: djathë i bardhë; Bulgarian: сирене[ˈsirɛnɛ]; Macedonian: сирење; Serbian: сир/sir) also known as "white brine sirene" (Bulgarian: бяло саламурено сирене) is a type of brined cheese made in the Balkans (South-Eastern Europe), especially popular in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Romania, Albania, Greece and also in Israel and Lebanon. It is made of the milk of goats, sheep, or cows, or a mixture of these.
North Caucasia
Circassian cheese (Adyghe: адыгэ къуаеAdyghe pronunciation:[aːdəɣaqʷaːja], Russian: адыгейский сырadygeyskiy syr, is a cheese found across the North Caucasus, the Levant and other areas with a Circassian diaspora. The cheese is prepared with raw cow, sheep and/or goats milk (Adyghean cheese - only with cow milk) and molded into a wooden basket.
Circassian smoked cheese is a smoked low-fat Circassian cheese, especially produced in the eastern Marmara region of Turkey. It is light yellow or cream-colored with a thick crust. After curdling and straining, the bottom and top of the cheese are salted and it is smoked with pinewood or thick pitch pine in smoking rooms. This process makes the cheese both more flavorful and more long-lasting.
Cyprus
Anari (Greek: αναρή, Turkish: nor) is a fresh mild whey cheese produced in Cyprus. Although much less known than other Cypriot cheeses (e.g. halloumi), it gained popularity following publicity.
There are many different goat cheeses made in Denmark.
Finland
Leipäjuusto (bread cheese) or juustoleipä (Meänkieli: kahvijuusto; Swedish: kaffeost or brödost), also known in the United States as Finnish squeaky cheese, is a Finnish fresh cheese traditionally made from cow's beestings, rich milk from a cow that has recently calved. Reindeer or even goat milk can also be used. Commercially available versions are typically made from cow's milk, and they lack some of the colour and flavour because of this. The cheese originally comes from Southern Ostrobothnia, Northern Finland, and Kainuu.
France produces a great number of goat milk cheeses, especially in the Loire Valley and Poitou.
Chevre is a soft, creamy, melt-in-mouth cheese that can have a fruity taste to it. It is usually covered in a light colored rind or skin. It is not aged for very long.[3] It is sometimes served hot as chèvre chaud.
Feta is made primarily of ewe's milk, with up to 30% of goat milk. Sheep (≥70%) and goat per PDO; similar cheeses may contain cow or buffalo milk.[3]
Mizithra or myzithra is a whey cheese which can be produced from the whey left over from goat cheeses. It is served either fresh or dried.[3]
Anthotyros (Greek: Ανθότυρος) or (Anthotyro in modern Greek, "flowery cheese") is a traditional fresh cheese is a whey cheese using the whey from Kefalotyri or Graviera production and can be made from milk from goats, sheep or a combination. There are dry Anthotyros and fresh Anthotyros. Dry Anthotyros is a matured cheese similar to Mizithra. Anthotyros is made with milk and whey milk. It is served fresh or dried. Anthotyros is produced in Greece, commonly in Thrace, Macedonia, the Ionian Islands and Crete.[3]
Kasseri or Kaşar (Greek: κασέρι, Turkish: kaşar is a medium-hard or hard pale yellow cheese made from pasteurised or unpasteurised sheep milk and at most 20% goat's milk. Kasseri is of semi-hard to hard consistency, smooth rather than crumbly, chewy, and with a hard rind. It belongs to the pasta filata family of cheeses, which includes fresh cheeses like mozzarella and aged ones like Provolone or Caciocavallo. Kasseri is a protected designation of origin, according to which the cheese must be made in the Greek provinces of Thessaly, Macedonia, Lesbos, or Xanthi, but a similar type of cheese is found in Turkey, Romania, and the Balkans, where it is known as kashkaval. The same cheese is made with cow's milk, but in that case it cannot be legally sold as kasseri in the EU and is instead sold under names that are particular to each producer.[3]
Kefalotyri or kefalotiri (Greek: κεφαλοτύρι, Turkish: talar peyniri) is a hard, salty white cheese made from sheep milk or goat's milk (or both) in Greece and Cyprus. A similar cheese Kefalograviera, also made from sheep or goat milk (or both), is sometimes sold outside Greece and Cyprus as Kefalotyri. Depending on the mixture of milk used in the process the color can vary between yellow and white.[3]
Xynomizithra or xynomyzithra (Greek: Ξινομυζήθρα) is a Greekwhey cheese with some added milk; it is a sour variant of Mizithra, and made from ewes' and/or goats' milk. The proportion of full-cream milk is about 15%.[3]
Xynotyro or Xynotyri is an unpasteurized whey cheese from Greece made from sheep's milk or goat's milk, with a hard and flaky consistency, a pungent aroma and a yogurt-like sweet and sour taste. "Xynotyri" means "sour cheese" in Greek. Traditionally, the cheese is drained and cured in reed baskets or allowed to mature in bags made of animal skin. Cow's milk is not utilized in the production.[3]
Salignon, a smoked cheese produced in the lower Aosta Valley
Mozzarella made of Italian Mediterranean buffalo traditionally; cattle cows in all 167 Italian regions; in some areas also sheep and goat
Ricotta is produced from the whey that from cheesemaking and whey cheese made from sheep, cow, goat, or Italian water buffalo milk whey left over from the production of other cheeses. Ricotta means 're-cooked', and is made by reheating the whey, until the clotted cheese curds rise to the top, where they are skimmed and molded.
A ġbejna is a small goat's- or sheep's-milk cheese. Various types are found which include; fresh (friski or tal-ilma), sundried (moxxa, bajda or ta' Għawdex), salt cured (maħsula), peppered (tal-bżar) and seasoned (imħawra).
Gbejna friska - a fresh cheeselet similar to ricotta in texture - native to Maltese Islands.
Gbejna tal bzar - same as above but aged and coated in black pepper - native to Maltese Islands.
Gbejna mghoxxa - same as the fresh cheeslet but left to air dry - native to Maltese Islands.
Netherlands
The Westerkwartier, the region west of the city of Groningen, has a relatively large concentration of organic goat-cheese farms. Well known goat cheeses from this region are Machedoux and Quiorio, brie-like cheeses served in restaurants all over the Netherlands and in Belgium and northern Germany. In other parts of the Netherlands, goat cheese is usually made in the Gouda style.
Norway
Geitost, which means goat cheese, is brown and made from goat milk and whey. Other brown cheeses, such as Brunost ("Brown cheese"), may also be made from cow milk whey, goat milk whey or a combination.
Snøfrisk is a fresh goat milk cheese, often made with added flavorings.
Portugal
Castelo Branco is a Portuguese goat milk cheese. Castelo Branco (Portuguese: Queijo de Castelo Branco) is a cheese named after the city of the same name in Portugal, the main city of the district where it is produced. Since 1996 Castelo Branco cheese has had a Protected designation of origin (PDO), being one of the three Beira Baixa cheeses (PDO) (Portuguese: Queijos da Beira Baixa DOP). The cheese is made from goat or sheep milk, and has a soft texture. Typically, the cheese takes 40 days to mature when made with goat's milk, and 50 days when made with ewe's milk. The fat content is around 45% and the cheese is usually a close-to-white colour.
Adygeisky cheese is made from sheep's, goat's, or cow's whole milk.
Serbia
Pule cheese or magareći sir, is a Serbian cheese made from 60% Balkan donkey milk and 40% goat milk.
Spain
Mató is a Catalan fresh cheese made from cow's or goat's milk.
Garrotxa is a firm goat cheese originally from Garrotxa in northern Catalonia.
Nevat, a soft-ripened goat cheese from Catalonia.
Cabrales cheese (Spanish: Queso de Cabrales) is a blue cheese made in the artisan tradition by rural dairy farmers in Asturias, Spain. This cheese can be made from pure, unpasteurized cow's milk or blended in the traditional manner with goat and/or sheep milk, which lends the cheese a stronger, spicier flavor. All of the milk used in the production of Cabrales must come exclusively from herds raised in a small zone of production in Asturias, in the mountains of the Picos de Europa.
Manchego (officially Spanish: queso manchego, pronounced[ˈkesomanˈtʃeɣo]) is a cheese made in the La Mancha region of Spain from the milk of sheep of the Manchega breed. It is aged between 60 days and 2 years. Manchego has a firm and compact consistency and a buttery texture, often containing small, unevenly distributed air pockets. The colour of the cheese varies from white to ivory-yellow, and the inedible rind from yellow to brownish-beige. The cheese has a distinctive flavour, well developed but not too strong, creamy with a slight piquancy, and leaves an aftertaste that is characteristic of sheep's milk.
Varieties of tulum, center "Otlu tulum peyniri", or Tulum with herbs, in Ankara
Tulum cheese is a goat cheese made in Turkey. (Turkish: tulum peyniri) is a traditional Turkish goat cheese ripened in a goatskin casing, called tulum in Turkish. Due to its unique flavor, it is preferred as meze to rakı in Turkey.
Sepet cheese and Kaşar cheese are produced from goat milk and marketed as Goat Sepet cheese and Goat Kaşar cheese.
Sutdiyari 'white cheese' is a cheese produced from sheep, cow, or goat milk.
Beyaz peynir 'white cheese' is a brined cheese produced from sheep, cow, or goat milk.
Ezine Cheese, originating from Ezine, Çanakkale, is a type of Beyaz Peynir including at least 40% goat milk according to the geographical protection rules.[14]
Dolaz cheese is a traditional cheese produced from whey by nomad (Karakoyunlu, Hayta, Honamlı, Sarıkeçili Yörüks) in the Lakes region (Isparta, Afyon and Antalya) in Turkey. It is generally made from ewe's and goat's milk.
Van herbed cheese (Turkish: Van otlu peyniri) is a type of cheese made out of sheep's or cow's milk. Ripened cheese varieties containing herbs are traditional in Turkey and have been manufactured for more than 200 years in the east and southeast of the country.
Ukraine
Bryndza cheeseBryndza cheese on a piece of bread
Bryndza (from Romanian brânză – cheese) is a sheep milkcheese made across much of East-Central Europe, primarily in or around the Carpathian Mountains of Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania and southern Poland.[15] Bryndza cheese is creamy white in appearance, known for its characteristic strong smell and taste. The cheese is white, tangy, crumbly and slightly moist. It has characteristic odor and flavor with a notable taste of butyric acid. The overall flavor sensation begins slightly mild, then goes strong and finally fades to a salty finish. Recipes differ slightly across countries. This cheese can also be made with goat milk or cow milk.
Kunik is produced at Nettle Meadow Goat Farm in Thurman, New York, and made from goat and Jersey cow milk blend, mold-ripened with similar properties to Brie.
Venezuela
In Venezuela, specifically in the states of Falcón, Lara and the population of San Jose de Turgua in Miranda state, many types of goat cheese are produced using traditional methods. A variety of artisanal cheeses are manufactured by smaller producers.[16]
Australian and Oceanian
Australia
Buche Noir is freshly pressed curd from the Sydney region.
Africa
Egypt
Domiati cheese
Domiati cheese, also referred to as white cheese (Egyptian Arabic: جبنة بيضاgebna bēḍa[ˈɡebnæˈbeːdɑ]), is a soft white salty cheese made primarily in Egypt, but also in Sudan and other Middle Eastern countries. Typically made from buffalo milk, cow milk, or a mixture, it can also be made from other milks, such as sheep, goat or camel milk. It is the most common Egyptian cheese. Unlike feta and other white cheeses, salt is added directly to the milk, before rennet is added. It is named after the seaport city of Damietta (دمياط).
^ abcdefghijklmnopRubino, R., Morand-Fehr, P., Sepe, L. (2004). Atlas of goat products. Italy: La Biblioteca di Caseus. ISBN88-900631-4-9.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
