Cheese Database

Appenzeller vs Tilsit cheese

Appenzeller

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Washed rind
Rind
Washed rind
Country
Switzerland

Appenzeller is a firm cow's milk cheese from Switzerland, in the family of Alpine wheels with small eyes. Makers wash the rind with a herbal brine while the cheese cures, and that wash gives a strong smell and a spicy edge. The paste is smooth, pale yellow, and dotted with a few small holes. A younger wheel tastes milder and nuttier, and a longer-aged wheel turns sharper and more robust. It is a cooking cheese and a board cheese, not a fresh slicing cheese.

Tilsit cheese, field guide plate
Tilsit cheese, photographed

Tilsit cheese

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Washed rind
Rind
Washed rind
Country
Germany
Place
a light yellow semi-hard smear-ripened

Tilsit cheese is a semi-hard cow's milk cheese from Germany, and the paste is light yellow under a washed rind. The style belongs to an East Prussian tradition, and German dairies still make it in wheels and in blocks. Makers rub the surface during ripening so a savory smear can develop. The interior stays moist and elastic, with small irregular holes or short cracks. Shoppers meet it as a table cheese that also melts.