Cheese

Feta is a white-brined curd cheese traditionally made across the Eastern Mediterranean basin which traces back to Greece. It is a crumbly aged cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. Feta is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads (e.g. the Greek salad) and pastries. Most notable is its use in the popular phyllo-based dishes spanakopita ("spinach pie") and tyropita ("cheese pie"), or served with some olive oil or olives and sprinkled with aromatic herbs such as oregano. It can also be served cooked or grilled, as part of a sandwich, in omelettes, or as a salty alternative to other cheeses in a variety of dishes.

White Cheese may refer to:

• Beyaz peynir, a salty, white cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk. The cheese has a slightly grainy appearance and is similar to Greek feta cheese
• Manouri, a Greek semi-soft, fresh white whey cheese made from goat and/or sheep milk whey left over from the production of cheese
• Mizithra, a Greek traditional, unpasteurized fresh cheese made with milk and whey from sheep and/or goats
• Mozzarella, a fresh cheese, originally from southern Italy, traditionally made from Italian buffalo and later cow’s milk by the pasta filata method
• Ricotta, an Italian whey cheese made from sheep (or cow, goat, or Italian water buffalo) milk whey left over from the production of cheese
• Mascarpone, an Italian cheese made from cream, coagulated by the addition of citric acid or acetic acid
• Sirene is a type of brine cheese made in South-Eastern Europe, especially popular in Bulgaria and other Balkan countries
• Kesong puti, Filipino fresh cheese is a soft, white cheese, similar to cottage cheese, made from unskimmed carabao’s milk, salt and rennet
• Queso blanco, a creamy, soft, and mild unaged white cheese that originated in Spain and spread to Mexico and other American countries

If a cheese has a natural buttery yellow color, beta carotene is responsible. Beta carotene is a fat-soluble yellow pigment and antioxidant found in grass. After a cow chews the cud, beta-carotene dissolves into the animal’s fat stores and ends up in fat globules in its milk. However, protein clusters and the membranes that surround fat globules in milk conceal the pigment’s color, reflecting light in a way that makes milk appear white and opaque. But during the cheesemaking process, the pigment is released: After bacterial culture and rennet have been added to milk and the coagulated mixture is cooked, the fat membranes dissolve and the protein clusters loosen so they can’t reflect light anymore. The beta carotene is made visible, and it also becomes more concentrated, since the the lean liquid component of the milk, called whey, is drained off. It follows that the fattiest cheeses, and those from cows grazed on open pasture, tend to have the deepest natural color.

More acidic cheeses, like cottage cheese and feta, retain their dense protein structures and so continue to appear white. Some cheeses made from other animals’ milk, like goat cheese and buffalo mozzarella, are white because goats and water buffalo don’t store beta carotene in their fat the way cows do. (Instead, they convert it to vitamin A, which is colorless.)