# Why are English cheeses mainly hard, and French cheeses mainly soft?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-english-cheeses-mainly-hard-and-french-cheeses-mainly-soft/753850>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 4, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-english-cheeses-mainly-hard-and-french-cheeses-mainly-soft/753850 "2016-05-04T03:52:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-english-cheeses-mainly-hard-and-french-cheeses-mainly-soft/753850/1 "2016-05-04T03:52:09Z")

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Cheddar, Red Leicester, Stilton, Gloucester, etc - all hard.

Camembert, Brie, etc - mainly soft.

How come?

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-english-cheeses-mainly-hard-and-french-cheeses-mainly-soft/753850/2 "2016-05-04T04:02:28Z")

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Stilton is hard?

ETA: [List of soft British cheeses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_cheeses#Soft_and_semi-soft_cheeses) (the French version doesn’t sort by hardness). Blue cheeses aren’t sorted by hardness.

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-english-cheeses-mainly-hard-and-french-cheeses-mainly-soft/753850/3 "2016-05-04T04:05:42Z")

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I do know that hard cheeses are designed for long-term storage, and soft cheeses are meant to be eaten right away. Would differences in climate and ability to store fresh milk be a factor?

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-english-cheeses-mainly-hard-and-french-cheeses-mainly-soft/753850/4 "2016-05-04T04:14:16Z")

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> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> Cheddar, Red Leicester, Stilton, Gloucester, etc - all hard.
> 
> Camembert, Brie, etc - mainly soft.
> 
> How come?

What made you choose these cheeses as representative of the entire country’s cheese output?

You’re going to have to define “mostly” for there to be any possibility of a meaningful answer.