All cheese (with a few soy exceptions) start as milk.  It can be milk from cows,
goats, sheep or even buffalo and yak.   Then something is added to the milk to
make it separate.   Usually this is rennet or a starter made of bacteria.   After the
curds and whey are separated then all different kinds of things are done to it
and the results are soft mozzarella or triple cremes to Roquefort, cheddar or
any of hundreds of different kinds. 

You can make your own cheese but I don't recommend that.  We are not trying
to be Martha Stewart here and we should let everyone do what they do best.  It's
good for us and good for the general economy.  Really.  Check out Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage.  You can always use this esoteric reference to explain why your husband
needs to change the oil in the car or your wife should be doing the laundry,
although it doesn't really apply.  I'll bet that nobody else will be able to argue with the reference. 

But I digress.  Cheese is an amazing product: "Milk's leap into immortality". 
From my newfound knowledge I will share the best I can and give lots of recipes,
interesting tidbits, links and just fun stuff.  Enjoy and honk at a Happy Cow.

I also have 2 very basic cheese rules for you to better enjoy any type of cheese.
Just believe.
1.  Do not freeze the cheese ever.
2.  Set the cheese out for an hour before serving.  It will drastically improve the taste
of even an everyday cheese.

Find great gift ideas and my favorite cheeses, all on one page here.

 

Cheese Links   Links to all the good cheese sites I run into.

Parmigiano Reggiano Let's start with a cheese that almost everyone enjoys. 
There are recipes, information and pictures in this section.  This section also
has information about several other types of interesting grating cheeses.

Truffled Cheeses  All Italian but one,  these cheeses that have either white or
black truffles are the epitome of luxurious cheeses.  Great for parties and gifts
and remarkably reasonable in price, there is no reason not to try them.

Sweet Cheeses  As a big fan of cheesecake, I can just skip most of the steps and get
outstanding artisan cheeses with fruit and even chocolate mixed in.  If you have never
tried a cheese and fruit blend, you are missing out. 

Pub Cheeses The United Kingdom typically produces the most inventive pub cheeses,
with Wales really in the lead.  I have been putting off adding this section because it
will be so large. For people that love new and interesting cheeses, this is a good
place to start because they aren't an acquired taste, you will like them
right away.