There are a lot of choices when it comes to cheese. Here are some of my favorites.

Below are some of my favorite cheeses. I highly recommend you go to your local cheese shop and ask to sample one or more of these cheese and talk to the cheesemonger about them.

Learn more about choosing and buying cheeses and check out The Reluctant Gourmet's TOP 5 CHEESE PICKS

Camembert

Created in 1789 by Marie Harel, a peasant woman and said to have been christened by Napoleon himself, this cow's milk cheese (40 to 45% fat) is world renown.

11 centimeters in diameter and 3 to 4 centimeter's thick, this smooth creamy cheese with a soft white rind should be served at room temperature when perfectly ripe. You'll know it's perfectly ripe when it oozes thickly, if it's runny, it is overripe. We sampled Chatelain Camembert that came in a wonderful little wooden box.

The idea for a wooden box came in 1890 by a man named Ridel. Our Chatelain Camembert, almost ripe when we tasted it, was absolutely delicious but I am told it is even more wonderful when perfectly ripe. So be patient with your cheese.

Gorgonzola

(gohr-guhn-ZOH-lah) Named for the Italian city where it is made, this cow's milk cheese is rich and creamy with a slightly pungent flavor. When aged over 6 months, both the flavor and the aroma become stronger....much stronger.

Some people think its stinky, but if you like strong cheese, you will love gorgonzola. It goes great with the pear in my salad, Seasonal French pears, mesclun, toasted pine nuts & gorgonzola.

Livarot

(LEE-vah-roe) One of France's oldest, a wonderful cheese named after a village in Normandy and whose nickname is the Colonel because it is bound with five strips of paper that look like a Colonel's stripes. Originally, the stripes were made of natural rush harvested from the edge of ponds.

This is a strong cheese with lots of flavor (beefy, nutty) and a pungent aroma. (If it has a smell of ammonia, it is past its prime) Livarot is made from cow's milk but has only a 40% fat content. It is naturally white but colored orangy-red with a tincture from a South American tree called the roucou. It has a soft washed rind, is round with a 12 cm diameter and is 5 cm thick.

Livarot goes great with a big red wine as well as with apple cider. Try it with bread and/or fruit, especially apples and pears.

(mon-CHAY-goy) Spain's most famous cheese and most popular, is made from sheep's milk and has a mild salty nutty flavor. It has a characteristic crosshatch pattern on it's rind (inedible) that today comes from plastic molds, but is modeled after the traditional presses made from strands of the native grass esparto.

It has a firm texture and comes in wheels that are 4 - 5 inches high and 8 - 9 inches in diameter. Manchego is great to serve alone as an appetizer or with other cheeses and some cured olives. Some people grate it and serve it on vegetarian dishes.

It can be found in most cheese stores or gourmet markets but it is not cheap. I picked a small piece recently for about $15 per pound but it was a rare treat well worth it. Serve it in small pieces.

Mascarpone (mas-cahr-POHN-ay)

Originally created in Northern Italy nearly 400 years ago, mascarpone is a key ingredient in the famous Italian dessert Tiramisu.

Made from cow's cream, mascarpone is a buttery double to triple cream cheese. With an ivory color, smooth texture and cream-like flavor, it is often blended with other ingredients as in my Tiramisu recipe or just topped with fruit.

Mascarpone has a soft, sweet flavor almost like butter-cream cake frosting. It is used as a filling, frosting, dip or melted in sauces.

It's sold in 8 oz. and 1 pound containers. Use to be hard to find in this country, but now I'm seeing it in my local supermarkets.

Serve it with light and fruity wines, liqueurs and coffee.

(maht-suh-REHL-lah) is a soft white cheese with a mild flavor typically made from cow’s milk. It came from southern Italy where it was originally made from buffalo milk. If you are lucky enough to find real buffalo mozzarella in your local market, try it. Although expensive, it’s like eating ice cream compared to frozen yogurt.

Pecorino Romano

(peh-koh-REE-noh) From the word pecora which means ewe in Italian, cheeses made from sheep's milk in Italy are called pecorino. Although the majority of pecorino is made in southern Italy, especially Sardinia, the best known pecorino is Pecorino Romano. Genuine Romano is only produced in the province of Rome from November to June.

My favorite genuine Romano is Locatelli. It's wonderful grated on pasta dishes but I also enjoy eating it plain at the end of a meal with a glass of red wine. Pecorino is straw colored, 36% fat, semi-hard, granular with a smooth rind coated in oil. It comes in a cylindrical shape about 12 inches in diameter, 16 inches tall and although a little sharper than Parmesan, it is often substituted when used in cooking.

It has an intensely strong sheepy quality to it. It is to southern Italy what Parmigiano-Reggiano is to the north. Look for the sheep's head logo with Pecorino Romano embossed on the rind to make sure you are getting the real stuff.

Check out this report on Pecorino from a young student who emailed asking about information on cheese. It's really good.

"Romano, one of the world’s oldest and most favorite cheeses, comes from just outside beautiful Rome. Romano’s original name was Pecorino-Romano. Romano is very important in Central and Southern Italy. Lots of people eat Romano every day on pasta, with a loaf of bread, maybe nice pane tuscano, fresh out of the wood-fire, or with some nice spinach sautéed in garlic and olive oil. Romano has a creamy white color, sharp piquant flavor, and a hard granular texture.

Romano can be used in many of the same menu applications as Parmesan, especially when a more pronounced cheese flavor is desired. There are several different styles of Romano cheese, all of which take their name from the city of Rome. Probably the best known is the sharp, tangy Pecorino-Romano, made with sheep’s milk. Caprino Romano is an extremely sharp goat’s milk version. Vacchino Romano is a very mild cow’s milk cheese. All Romano Cheese is made by a special method known as “rummaging curd,” or draining the curd quickly after molding, then piercing the surfaces slightly before salt is applied.

The first thing to know about Pecorino Romano, which many people don’t focus on, is that it is a DOC cheese; which means it is strictly controlled by the Italian Government, and must be made according to certain specifications to be able to be called Pecorino Romano. It has to be round in shape, be between forty to sixty pounds approximately, aged a minimum of six months, be produced in either Lazio or Sardegna between October and July, be made of one hundred percent sheep’s milk and have the marking of a sheep from the producer. The milk comes from sheep raised in the countryside of Rome which produce only small quantities of milk that is very rich in fat and protein. Thus, allowing for an exceptionally creamy, flavorful cheese.

Sheep’s milk products offer a number of benefits which become increasingly important as science plays an increasingly more intrusive role in the dairy industry. Sheep’s milk cheeses break down into smaller molecules in the body thus allowing for better digestion. Many lactose intolerant people find that they can enjoy sheep’s mild cheeses without repercussions to their health.

A famous brand of romano cheese is Fulvi Pecorino Romano. Romano cheese grates larger so that it does not disappear in food, rather it creates a hearty flavor while enabling you to use less cheese. There are a variety of uses for romano cheese in recipes. Romano cheese can be served as a side dish with pasta dishes.

Romano cheese is said to add a pleasing note to pizza made with a zesty garlic-tomato sauce and spicy sausage. Chefs serve romano cheese as a garnish over cream soups, pasta, or fresh green salads. Another garnish idea is to sprinkle fresh grated romano over egg dishes, such as quiche or frittatas."

There are parmesan cheeses made all over the world but there is only one Parmigiano-Reggiano. Although more expensive, this granular textured cheese whose processing method hasn't changed in the last 700 years is usually aged for 2 years. If labeled stravecchio - 3 years or stravecchiones - 4 years.

Two reasons why Parmigiano-Reggiano has better taste and consistency; (1) the flavor of the milk which comes from cows whose diets are strictly controlled, and (2) the strict production codes that have kept the cheese making the same for centuries. Only fresh milk, rennet, and salt are allowed in the dairy. However, in 1984 the laws changed to allow the entire years production be branded Parmigiano-Reggiano. Prior to 1984, only the cheese produced between April and November could be labeled such.

(roo-koo-LAWN), a cow's milk cheese from Franche-Comte, France. It's soft-ripened cheese that is very similar to Camembert or Brie. Did you know that although real Camembert and real Brie come from completely different regions in France, they are made from the same recipe and are identical in taste?

The problem is in the names; Camembert and Brie are not protected by law thus we get all sorts of cheeses that call themselves by those names that are not the real thing. Kind of like that California jug wine, Chablis, that has no resemblance to the wonderful Chardonnay that comes from Chablis, France.

What's great about rich and creamy Roucoulons? Although it is made from pasteurized cow's milk, it has a similar taste, smell, and appearance of a Camembert made from raw milk, impossible to find in the United States these days.

Sainte-Maure Ash

The first time I tried cutting into this cheese, I noticed a stick in the middle of it. It looked like a cheese popsicle. It turned out to be a straw and not a stick. This log-shaped goat cheese is from an area in France called the Touraine and the straw is used to reinforce the crumbly texture. It's made from goats milk (45% fat) and is soft with a natural rind. Our Sainte-Maure was coated with a wood ash and tasted smooth and rich. I've been eating it plain but have also added it to my mixed greens salads.