List of cheeses

This is a list of cheeses by place of origin. Types of cheese are included; brand names are only included if they apply to a distinct variety of cheese. 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 (including the animal's diet), 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.

Mainstream Chinese culture is not dairy-centric. However, outlying regions of the country, such as Tibet and Yunnan, have strong cheese traditions.

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