Cheese is made from coagulated milk, cream, skimmed milk or a mixture of any of these. The simplest cheese is made from sour milk that separates into curds and whey. There are many categories of cheeses varying from soft, fresh cheese to well-matured highly flavoured varieties.

Today, around the world there may well be over 1,000 named varieties of cheese. Australia has one of the most efficient dairy industries in the world, producing an increasing range of quality cheeses from our lush pastures. Australian cheeses tend to fall into one of eight different categories, depending on texture. The categories are:

1. Fresh unripened cheese
2. Stretched curd
3. White mould cheese
4. Semi-hard
5. Eye cheese
6. Hard cheese
7. Blue mould cheese
8. Washed rind cheese

Australia is a nation with a history of eating cheddar. Australians consume approximately 12 kilograms of cheese per capita. More than half of the 12 kilograms consumed per head in 2001 was cheddar or cheddar type cheese. Although, the consumption of non-cheddar is growing reflecting our changing Australian diet.*

*Source: New Dairy Culture – Dairy Australia 2003