Cheese-There are several varieties of cheese manufactured all over the world. All types of cheese are the byproducts of lactic fermentation of milk. There are several varieties of cheese which are classified as hard, semi-hard and soft cheese. These are prepared with culturing of the milk either with bacterial or mould species. Among the several varieties, the popular ones are cheddar cheese and Swiss cheese which are known as 'hard cheese' whereas Roquefort cheese (blue cheese) is a semi-soft cheese and
the soft variety is the camembert cheese. The cheddar cheese originated from England and was adopted in USA, the color of which ranges from white to orange- yellow, depending upon the color added. The curing is done with the help of Streptococcus and Lactobacillus. The cheese is without the gas holes (the eyes), which characterizes the Swiss cheese. The Swiss cheese is cultured with the help of a mixed culture, L. bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus and Propionibacterium shermanii which imparts the characteristic eye formation. The roquefort cheese is prepared by the inoculation of curd with Penicillium roqueforti and the camembert cheese is produced by the fermentation with Penicillium camemberti.