Cheese Style Guide

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	Sant Mateu
	This Catalan goat cheese is one of the most charming cheeses made in Spain. Produced by a small-scale cheesemaker north of Barcelona, this tomme de chevre is virtually unknown in the United States. However, a similar cheese from the area named Pau won the award for outstanding cheese at the Fancy Food Show in New York in 2003. Sant Mateu has a washed-rind and is made from pasteurized milk. Only local goat's milk is used in the manufacture of this fresh (aged for only one to two months) cheese. We love its fruity, slightly herbed flavor and its chalky yet creamy texture.
	Sao Jorge
	This wonderful cheese comes to us from the volcanic island of the same name in Portugal's Azores archipelago. When colonized by the Flemish in the 15th Century, cheese production was introduced to the island, with cows brought over from the mainland. Still made in the traditional farmhouse way, this Cheddar-style cheese is made from unpasteurized cow's milk and aged for over 120 days and continues to improve with age. Its hard, inedible, natural rind gives way to a lighter colored interior with tiny, irregular holes.
	Sardo
	Sardo is an Egyptian cheese made from sheep's milk. It's hard, long-lasting, and often used for grating.
	Saga
	Saga is a cross between blue cheese and brie, a creamy, blue-veined cheese with a white-mould rind. It is very mild for a blue-veined cheese. This is an outstanding dessert cheese... Saga is now made in America, as well as in Denmark, its place of origin.
	Samso
	The King of Denmark in the early 1800's invited Swiss cheese-makers to come and teach their art. The result was Samso, named for an island. Samso is made in disks or blocks from pasteurised cow's milk. It has an elastic texture with a few irregular-sized holes, and takes 3 to 6 months to ripen. Aged Samso cheese develops a sweet and sour pungency.
	Saxonshires
	This layered cheese is also called five counties cheese because of the different cheeses that make up its five layers. These cheeses are: Double Gloucester, Caerphilly, Cheshire, Leicester, and Cheddar. The cheese has a very dramatic appearance and a very pleasing flavor. If you are a fan of any of these British classics, this is definitely a cheese to try.
	Schabzieger
	This unusual Swiss cheese looks like a small truncated cone. It's greenish in color and very spicy due to addition of an herb called fenugreek. In the USA, it's named Sapsago. You can buy it as a powder for seasoning other foods. And it's fat free!
	Schloss
	This Austrian cheese is delicious on sandwiches or with crackers. White and golden in color, Schloss has a semi-firm and creamy texture. Its flavor depends on ripeness... the strong flavors are tangy, mild and pungent.
	Serat
	Serat is made in Afghanistan from sheep's milk. The curds are kneaded into a ball before being smoked and dipped in wax to preserve the cheese.
	Serra da Estrela
	This Portuguese cheese and has been made for centuries by shepherds in the mountains of Serra da Estrela in the Beira region. The cheese is literally hand-made with its curds broken up by hand, rather than cut. Serra da Estrela is so soft that it is almost spreadable. The best description of its taste that I have read is: rich, perfumed intensity resulting from outstanding grazing, and sweet burnt toffee which is characteristic of sheep's milk.
	Sharpham Rustic
	From the Jersey herd of Sharpham estate on the banks of the River Dart. This loosely textured semi pressed cheese has lots of flavour with a delicious creamy finish. Made using unpasteurised milk, it is a cheese that once you begin eating it is difficult to stop.
	Sheep's Milk Wensleydale
	Hawes Dairy has created a new Wensleydale for all of the people out there that cannot enjoy their cheese because they are allergic to cow's milk. This is an unusual tangy flavoured cheese, which is clean, fresh & milky, with a delicate, exceptionally smooth & creamy texture.
	Shahat
	Shahat is a gourmet Kosher cheese imported from Israel. Made from a blend of sheep and goat's milk, it is made in the style of the French cheese Selles sur Cher. Coated with charcoal and white mold, the ash facilitates the draining of the whey and encourages the interior of the cheese to ripen. Delicately textured and creamy, Shahat matures with a richness of flavors added by exciting spices.
	Siraz
	Siraz is an unusual Serbian cheese in the shape of flat disc. First, the young curd is pressed into flat discs, then left to dry in the open air. Over next few days, the surface is rubbed and salted several times, and finally, the cheeses are stored in wooden containers of brine for a few weeks. The taste of the cheese is slightly sour and of course, salty.
	Sirene
	A popular Bulgarian cheese, Sirene is made from a blend of sheep's and cow's milk. This cheese is usually produced as blocks. The texture is slightly grainy and it has a fresh lemony taste. Sirene is used as a table cheese, in salads and for baking.
	Stilton
	Today, nearly 300 years after the birth of STILTON, it still is handmade exclusively in the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire from local milk. Only seven dairies, using the original centuries-old recipe, are licensed to produce the creamy ivory-hued king of cheeses. So esteemed is STILTON's unique flavor and texture, it is the only British cheese graced with its own certification trademark.
	Stinking Bishop
	Winner of the 2001 Best Exported British Cheese Award, Stinking Bishop is a washed rind cheese dating back to the Cistercian monks who once settled in Dymock where this cheese is made. Washed in fermented pear juice (also called "Perry"), the cheese develops a stinky, pungent, orange-colored, sticky rind. Named after the Stinking Bishop pear varietal, this cheese is a spectacular dairy experience.
	Swiss Cheese
	One of my favorite cheeses for sandwiches, and of course like many cheeses, it's wonderful with apples, pears and grapes with thinly-sliced prosciutto. The "Eyes," are caused by the expansion of gas within the curd during the ripening period.