There are many animals that can be milked to make cheese—camels and water buffalo, we're looking at you—but the big three types of milk found in most cheeses are cow's milk, goat's milk, and sheep's milk. What difference does the type of milk make for your cheese? Here's resident cheesemonger Emma Lammers with answers to all your milky questions.
Hey Emma, how does the taste of a cow's milk cheese compare with a goat's milk cheese or a sheep's milk cheese?
Ultimately, the flavor of a cheese primarily depends on its style, but there are a few characteristics that are common for each milk type. Cow’s milk cheeses can really highlight the flavor of the grass the animals graze on, and cheesemongers often describe cow’s milk cheeses as ‘grassy,’ or say that you ‘can taste the pasture.’ Other common tasting notes in cow’s milk cheeses are sweet cream, butterscotch, mushroom, and nuts, depending on the style.
Goat’s milk cheeses generally fall into one of two camps: limestone-y and citrusy or musky and barnyardy. Some straddle the line between both! Younger goat cheeses are often more on the limestone/citrus side, while more aged goat cheeses can retain these flavors, but also express some of those complex, musky notes. Finally, sheep’s milk cheeses are fatty and sweet! Some primary tasting notes are candy corn, sweet cream (again), and a waxy lanolin flavor that tastes a bit like wool.
What about texture?
Sheep’s milk has the highest fat content of the Big Three Milks, so it often produces creamier cheese. Nancy’s Camembert, for example, gets some of its creaminess from added cream, but a lot of it comes from the fatty sheep’s milk.
Are goat's milk and sheep's milk cheeses more expensive?
Yes. Goat’s and sheep’s milk cheeses are more expensive because goat’s and sheep’s milk is more expensive. Cows produce much more milk per animal per day than goats and sheep do, so there’s just more cow’s milk in the market.
Most of the cheeses you have for melting are made from cow's milk. Is that the only good melter?
It’s a bit complicated because there are multiple factors involved. First, meltability is directly related to the moisture content of the cheese, and how that level compares to the levels of protein and fat. More moisture = better melting. Goat’s and sheep’s milk both have more fat than cow’s milk, so this ratio naturally skews away from high moisture. Goat’s milk also has less of a protein called casein, which causes many goat cheeses to be drier and crumblier than cow's or sheep’s milk counterparts. But these things don't mean you can’t make a good melting cheese out of goat’s or sheep’s milk! A high moisture goat cheddar or gouda can do the job just fine.
Sadly for those who want them, we just don’t see a lot of goat's or sheep's milk melting cheeses on the market. The most ubiquitous goat cheese in the United States, fresh chèvre, doesn’t melt because it’s curdled with an acid, rather than rennet, while many other traditional styles of goat’s milk cheese are aged long enough (loss of moisture!) that they also don’t melt very nicely.
A final consideration is the price of goat’s and sheep’s milk. These milks are more expensive, so cheese made with them is also more expensive. When someone is cooking with cheese, and looking for it to melt, they’re often looking for a less expensive product. This desire creates a good niche for lower cost, higher moisture, meltable cow’s milk cheeses. Cheesemakers always have to think about what their customers want!
Do different milks have different nutritional profiles? Are some more digestible than others?
There definitely are some nutritional differences between the milk types, but the answer to the digestibility question is a bit of a cloudy one. Goat’s milk and sheep’s milk contain less lactose than cow’s milk, but not zero. Sheep’s milk, specifically, contains more protein and fat, which balances out the lactose and does often make it easier to digest. The greatest determinant of how easy a cheese is to digest, though, is how long it's been aged. The longer cheese ages, the more lactose breaks down, so older cheeses are always easier to digest!
A lot of your goat's and sheep's milk cheeses are only available during certain times of the year, while most of the cow's milk cheeses are available year-round. Why is that?
All of these animals do have a time of the year in which they’re not producing milk– that is, when they’re carrying calves. But the ‘drying off’ period for cows is much shorter than that for goats and sheep. Cows produce milk year round, except for their 45-60 day dry period. Goats and sheep have longer dry periods due to a hormonal reaction they have to the changing seasons. When they sense days getting shorter (less sunlight), their bodies prepare for winter and they stop producing milk.>
How should I pair milks together for a cheese board? If I want to try cow, sheep, and goat side by side, what should I get?
This is totally up to you! It could be fun to get three cheeses of different milks, but similar styles (i.e. three goudas – Marieke Premium Gouda, Finger Lakes Gold, and Sweet Annie), or you could opt for whatever different styles are speaking to you. Whatever you choose, remember one of the cardinal rules of tasting cheese: start with the mildest cheese first, then work your way to the strongest!
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