I’ve always wanted a cheese glossary where one of the official terms used to describe some of my favorite varieties is “stinky”.  That’s because, as an English major by education, I am more semanticist than grammarian.  That is, I care more about people understanding what’s being said than about using some arbitrary notion of what’s correct.

Language is fluid and families of cheeses are like our own; they overlap, intermingle and sometimes confuse and contradict--and that’s just fine.

 Cheese, a living food, can change in so many ways in reaction to its environment, how it’s made, aged, handled, stored, cut, paired and more. But when it comes down to it, speaking cheese is fairly easy. There’s a list of terms that are generally understood by all; they form the foundation of a useful language.

I tend to reject or limit jargon, the sort of insider secret code that seems designed to create mystery and professional hierarchy.
The American Cheese Society (ACS), a professional organization devoted to—you guessed it, cheese--offers a list of cheeses by styles, sometimes called types or varieties.  These are loosely based on both how we think about cheese and how our and other governments classify and categorize cheeses for purposes of safety, import/export, basic production and those all important efforts towards sales and marketing. Among cheese sources, there sometimes are slightly different breakdowns of the categories but the ACS list encompasses all the styles in a logical, orderly way. Note, though, that some cheeses can inhabit more than one class. Mozzrella di bufala, for example, is both a fresh cheese and a pasta filata.

Semi-Soft: These are cheeses I often describe as starter types, entry level, familiar and loved by all. They go with almost anything and tend to be very good melting cheeses.  They’re fairly high in moisture but hold their shape and are not runny. They can be very mild or move right up to pretty intense.  Feistier ones are often made from raw milk.
Examples: Colby, Fontina, Havarti, Monterey Jack, Port Salut, Edam, Montasio, Chihuahua, Teleme and Brick.
 

Soft Ripened: These are cheeses ripened from the outside in, meaning that the cheese at the outside edge is further ripened than the center. They tend to be soft, creamy and buttery, sometimes downright runny; mostly they are round and somewhat flat.  The white, fluffy ones have what is called a bloomy rind that grows from little mold spores (good ones, called penicillin candidum) and is totally edible.  Some folks say they have a lightly earthy, mushroomy quality.  (Did you get all of those great taste words?!)
Examples: Brie, Camembert, Explorateur, Coulimiers.

Firm/Hard Cheeses: More time aging, less moisture, these represent a broad range of styles and flavors.  Goudas, most Cheddars, Dry Jack, Swiss, Gruyeres, and of course, anything related to the beloved Parmesan. They usually get paired with words like sharp, buttery, fruity and winey – as in, reminiscent of and going well with wine.

Fresh Cheese: Not aged, or just slightly cured.  Usually high moisture, creamy, mild, soft (all good cheese words) and, like other fresh dairy foods, needing to be refrigerated and eaten soon!
Examples: cream cheese, mascarpone, ricotta, chevre, feta, fromage blanc, burrata, quark and cottage cheese.

Natural Rind: These form their outsides, an obvious rind, naturally by dry aging.  No molds or microflora are added nor is the rind washed as it ages. Because they often are aged many weeks, they can be, and often are, made from raw milk and can develop a whole lot of flavor.  
Examples: Tome de Savoie, Mimolette, English Stilton (that famous blue) and Lancashire.

Washed Rind: Finally, the stinky set, a group of cheeses with a bark worse than bite.  Strong aromas threaten to scare away the uninitiated but underneath the nose, these cheeses generally are less fearsome, highly nuanced and complex. They are surface ripened by washing the cheese during aging with anything from beer, wine, molds, a simple brine or any combo of special ingredients; the resulting rind is often orange in color.  They can get almost runny inside, can be tangy and nutty, but often milder and sweeter inside than the pungent aromas suggest.

Pasta Filata: It means pulled curd—or paste--in Italian, and there is no better way to describe the method used to make these cheeses.  Curds, after soaking in the whey that has separated out of the milk, are stretched and pulled like taffy before they are shaped—often into balls but sometimes braids. The flavor of pasta filata cheeses tends toward milky and sweet, with an underpinning of acidity for balance.  Mozzarella, Scamorza, string cheese and Provolone – young and milky – mild to aged and tangy, these have textures and flavors all their own.
Examples: Mozzarella, burrata, Scamorza, Caciocavalo, string cheese, Oaxaca, Kasseri.

Blue Cheese: These are ripened from the inside, out.  Blue/ green veining created when Penicillium roqueforti mold is added to the milk or curd.  These are friendly molds that create unique flavors that range from mild, sweet and mushroomy all the way to downright pushy (ok, pungent).  Though there are many styles, both raw-milk and pasteurized, this family of cheeses tends toward salty and bold rather than demure, with textures that can be creamy, firm or crumbly. Cow’s milk, goat’s milk and sheep’s milk all are used, with goat’s milk the least common.
Examples: Gorgonzola, Cashel Blue, Roquefort, Stilton, Saga, Cabrales, and Cambozola.