I recently attended the Cheese School of San Francisco and took a class taught by the owner, Kiri Fisher. The class was called “How to Taste Cheese 101” – and today I will share some of the fun facts I learned:

• A yellow cheese indicates it was made with cow’s milk. The more yellow the cheese the more time the cow spent in the pasture. A white cheese shows it was made with goat’s or sheep’s milk. 
• Buffalo’s milk has the highest fat content, followed by sheep’s milk.
• The more flexible the cheese feels, the better it will melt.
• Once you cut the cheese (still makes me giggle) the cheese is no longer aging, but “dying.”
• Eyes and holes in cheeses are normal, but when cracks and lines appear it shows that the cheese has undergone dramatic temperature changes.
• The part of the cheese immediately under the rind is the “cream rind” and will actually taste different than the cheese under the rind, which is called the “paste.”

I probably should have taken a photo before eating all the cheese, but I was too excited and in the moment.