# A question about the various cheeses of the world. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-various-cheeses-of-the-world/175074 "2003-05-13T22:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-various-cheeses-of-the-world/175074/1 "2003-05-13T22:44:38Z")
Maybe mundane, but I’m curious nonetheless. I was shopping in the store last night, and picked up my usual brick of sharp cheddar cheese, and a package of presliced ‘Colby Jack’. I know cheese comes from the curdling of milk and such, but just _where_ do the different flavors come from? Is it from the bacteria used to culture the curdles (or is it whey?)? Does it have something to do with the milk? [sub]Can you make cheddar out of goat’s milk?[/sub] From [Cheese.Com](http://www.cheese.com/Description.asp?Name=Cheddar) I found that cheddar gets ‘sharper’ the longer it matures, but whence does cheddar become cheddar or Armenian string or Calenzana? The site tells me what milk to use, but not much else. . . So? How do the flavors come about? Tripler My phone just rang, and I answered it. It was Wisconsin–they now love me. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-various-cheeses-of-the-world/175074/2 "2003-05-13T22:49:20Z")
Ya, Sorry, Wrong Number. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-various-cheeses-of-the-world/175074/3 "2003-05-13T23:03:29Z")
The milk (species, feeding, fat content, pasteurization), the bacteria (native or added, which strain), the residual moisture, the storage method (in cloth, in wax, warm or chilled), the aging time, the temperature and pH, the use of brine (or not), the presence of certain molds (or not) – all of these affect the final taste. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-various-cheeses-of-the-world/175074/4 "2003-05-13T23:06:39Z")
**Nametag** , so it seems more like method than material–allowing whatever cultures that are already present in the milk to do their work, but controlling them _just right_. . . Does this mean that given a gallon of milk in my refridgerator, I can make cheddar cheese in my bathtub given the right conditions? It seems too darn easy. Tripler I wouldn’t try to make bathtub cheese. Bathtub gin, however. . . ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-various-cheeses-of-the-world/175074/5 "2003-05-13T23:10:10Z")
Apparently it is very difficult for the home cheesemaker to get consistent results; it certainly is possible to make your own cheese at home (I keep meaning to have a go… one day), but it is (apparently) very difficult to make the same cheese twice, for all the reasons **Nametag** mentions (most of which are more easily controlled/measured at a commercial scale.)