Gotta say Halloumi makes me want to throw up, I have no clue why.
Feta is saltier and much tastier.
Proper mozarella is a lovely cheese.
Brie is a great soft cheese. I loathe Camembert but can still eat it.
Philadelphia is great.
Processed cheese is vile.
Chevre (goat’s milk) is both lovely in it’s mild, fresh form - often in the shape of a swiss roll with charcoal dust on the outside, as well as matured.
You’re not eating the halloumi uncooked are you, Istara?
Man, I thought you actually wanted to learn more about cheese from the title. I guess I’ll have to keep to myself one of the lovely things that is used to cure cheese.
Nice extra sharp chedder
Provolone
Ricotta
I think he’s hoping for more info than that, Guin.
Provolone
Like a hardened version of mozzarella with a firm texture (how hard depends on how long they’ve aged it). There two kinds - mild (dolce) or sharp-tasting (picante), and they go with pretty much anything savoury and Italian, figs, tomatoes or olives. Slice some onto a pizza. Drink with light, fruity reds such as merlot or chianti.
Ricotta
Light, soft cream cheese (or cottage cheese as we’d call it - is that an American expression?). Used in cooking, such as the base for cheesecake or the filling in vegetarian ravioli, cannelloni etc.
BTW, don’t do as I did once and drink rosé wine with roquefort cheese. Separately they taste great; both in the mouth at the same time and the result tastes like vomit.
I think you might want to start by learning how to spell cheddar
d&r
There are good cheeses, and bad cheeses, and some that stink like the foot of a demon. Try small bits every week and find stuff you like.
I’ll be over in the corner eating a soft yet crumbly Havarti.
Try some Casu Marzu cheese
Ricotta and Cottage Cheese are different cheeses over here, everton. They’re rather similar in softness (and sort of in texture), but they taste different and are used differently. Cottage Cheese is defined as “small curd” or “large curd”, with the curds held together with an almost sauce-like liquid. Many people don’t like it and it has a “diet food” connotation, but I enjoy it.
And I’m terrible at providing cheese analysis, but if someone can do justice to Havarti, please do so! YUM!
It seems we have a similar understanding of cottage cheese, then. Not the best analogy was it?
Can anyone confirm/confound the rumour that the holes in Swiss cheeses such as Emmental are gradually disappearing? The holes are created by gas gradually expired by bacteria that grows in the cheese. Here’s Cecil on the subject. Apparently they make it by adding a little bit of old cheese to the mix for the new cheese, transferring the bacteria to make the holes, and they’re dying out for an unknown reason. Straight Dope anyone?
Briminator, I don’t know how your shop is is run, but I’ve been to a few that offer samples. Have you ever thought to ask for a taste?
Yes, but shhh! Don’t expose my plagiarism. Anyway, it’s different coz he uses Camembert. 
I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.
No takers? 
D’you mean rennet?
Thank God for that.
Yeah; rennet - so what? Do you know what they use to clarify beer?
My kidneys seem to do a decent job of clarifying beer :), but you don’t often see it on the vegetarians’ banned list do you? I recall reading an article in which someone was talking to an Inuit man and expressing disgust at the idea of eating seal blubber. The guy’s response was along the lines of “well, what d’they make cheese out of?” and he had a point.
Re Halloumi: I’ve had it cooked (grilled?) and melted, and possibly cold/raw but I’m not sure, mangetout, and I just hate it hate it HATE it.
What is it made from? Why do I find it so nasty?
There’s something mildly sweetly sickly off-milkly cloying about it or something.
I’ve always wanted to try Limburger, but I’m sort of afraid to because all I know about it I learned from Pepe LePew cartoons. (seriously)
I had heard Gjetost raved about, but upon trying it found it an odd combination of sickly sweet/caramelish and chalky/acrid. But apparently the Scandinavians love it.