Etymology

It is believed that the French word “fromage” originates from the Latin word “forma”, which was used for the containers early humans kept cheese in. In around 15th Century the word “forma” became “fromage”

The English word “cheese” comes from the Latin “caseus”. The earliest source is from the proto-Indo-European root “kwat”, which means “to become sour”.

The Armenian word “Պանիր” (Panir) originates from the Persian word “paneer” which means cheese.

Variety and Classification

There are over 700 types of cheeses today. The most popular types in the world are Cheddar, Mozzarella, Cream cheese, Swiss cheese and Brick and Muenster cheeses.

The main ways to classify cheeses are the milk source and the moisture content.

According to the milk source there are cow, sheep, goat, moose, mare, yak and buffalo milk cheeses.

According to the moisture content cheeses are classified into fresh, soft, semi-hard, hard and very hard.

Fresh cheeses have over 80% of moisture; they have a whitish color, soft taste and are highly perishable. These cheeses include feta cheeses, ricotta, cottage cheese and cream cheese.

Water content in soft cheeses ranges from 50-75%. These cheeses have a very short aging period. Soft cheeses include Brie, Camembert and many Hispanic types.

Semi-hard cheeses contain 40-50% water. Among semi-hard cheeses are Roquefort, Gouda and Gorgonzola.

The moisture level in hard cheeses is around 30-40%. The best-known cheeses of this type are Cheddar and Swiss cheeses.

Very hard cheeses have the longest aging period, and contain around 30% moisture. Parmesan and Romano are examples of very hard cheeses.

Cheese Consumption Facts

Cheese consumption is growing worldwide. In Armenia cheese is an important part of most people’s daily diet. As a USDA CARD study shows 98,3% of the households eat cheese regularly. According to some estimates the annual per capita consumption of cheese in the country in 2006 was 7,8 kg.

Per capita cheese consumption in Germany is 15,2kg, in Italy it is 22,9kg and in France the annual consumption is 26,3 kg.

According to Trade Map organization the world cheese export in 2007 was 4,832,107 tons. The largest cheese exporters are Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, France and the US.

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