Tribute to Cows

Where would we be without our beloved cows? Besides salami, cheese is my other favorite food. Of course cows aren’t the only animals producing milk, but cow cheese does tend to be my favorite. I have to admit that I haven’t tried a lot of other animal cheeses, except the usual goat cheese, however there is also cheese produced from buffalo and sheep’s milk. I’ll have to widen my repertoire…

Due to our weekly cheese & salami spread, I buy different types of cow’s milk cheese to experiment. I usually try to purchase smaller blocks in case we end up with something we don’t like. For the snack platter, any type of cheese will do really. Sometimes I’ll get a stinky French Brie which is super soft and almost spreadable. Sometimes we’ll try Emmentaler (Swiss), Gouda (Netherlands), Muenster (despite its German name, it’s American) and Jarlsberg (Norway), which are semi-soft cheeses. And occasionally we’ll branch out and get the Parmesan or Dubliner Irish Cheddar. Of course there is Feta cheese (Greek), Mozzarella (Italian) and even Liptauer (Hungarian), which are crumbly, stringy and spreadable in that order. The first is great on salads, the second on pizza and the third on bread. Raclette is a Swiss specialty that’s a semi-firm cheese used to melt and great for scraping (melted) onto bread or served with small sides (pickles, deli meat, etc.). The Brits are famous for their Stilton, which is a blue cheese and pairs well with pears. Ha ha… The Italians use their Mascarpone and Ricotta for desserts and pasta dishes and of course the French beat everyone with over 1,000 types of cheeses. They must lead charmed lives…let’s hope they are not lactose intolerant.

On the other side of the ocean, Central and South America have Crema and Fresco (El Salvador & Honduras) and Cotija (Mexico), which are the most well-known.

And universally used are cream cheese, cottage cheese and string cheese. Or is that just in the US?

There are of course other cheeses from many countries and regions but these are the ones I’m familiar with.

If you haven’t heard of some of these cheeses, look them up on the internet and do your own research. That way you have a better idea of what to try when you go to the store.

So instead of showing you a bunch of different pictures of cheese, here are a few pictures of some photogenic Austrian cows.

She won the staring contest

Walking off into the sunset