Say Cheese !

Cheese,  there's more varieties of it than any other food I know. From simple Cheddar to Gorgonzola. Almost every nation has at least one variety and often several to dozens of varieties. I'm an admitted Cheese lover and I've tried many varieties. Although I love well aged Cheddar's,  one of my favorite cheeses is Halloumi,  which is a staple in Cypress and is also considered Greek and Turkish .  It's a goat cheese that can be fried broiled or even barbecued until it turns golden brown without it melting as you turn it over once only to brown it.  Believe it or not,  some people call it squeaky cheese because as you eat it,  it actually does squeak against your teeth as you chew.  This cheese is to die for,  and almost a meal in itself.  It was only recently that it started showing up in Canada at Superstore under the name of Halloom and at a few foreign food specialty shops.

Mouthwatering Cypriot Halloumi

Halloumi grilled to perfection

There are 356 different varieties of basic cheese types from 68 different countries.  That number has excluded the following :  American,  Canadian,  France,  Italy, Switzerland,  The U.K and Ireland  which would bring the number into the thousands I'm sure.   :o )

Mexican Quesillo De Oaxaca cheese

Danish Blue

Many countries have their own versions of blue cheese.

Scotland's Ayrshire's Dunlop Cheese 

An Antique Scottish Cheese Press

Either that or it's a torture device.

What is that smell? Oh no!  put on your gas masks it's Limburger Cheese!

Limburger Cheese comes from an area that takes in Germany, Belgium and France.  It is reputed as having the smell of body odor and if you have never smelled it before,  you make it much worse than that.  I can't get over the smell enough to even try it myself.  I've always maintained that it smelled like a pair of rank,  sweaty and damp gym socks that sat in a locker for 10 years. My grandfather,  a German, swore by it and I remember going there as a kid where he would have it stored in a few containers and I could still smell it.

There's a good reason I've always made that comparison.  As it turns out,  the cheese is fermented with a bacterium smear process and the bacterium used is the same one that we possess on our bodies that are partially responsible for our natural body odor smell.  Also interesting to note that it was discovered that mosquitoes were equally attracted to human sweaty feet as they were to Limburger Cheese in studies.

An Assortment Of French Cheeses

Chilean Quesochanco Cheese