First You Milk Your Cow ... Trivia Quiz

Answer: horse

Airag (or ayrag) is a Mongolian term which is also used to refer to an alcoholic beverage (also called kumis) fermented from mare's milk. Both the cheese and the drink originate in the steppes of central Asia, and are traditionally made from mare's milk. Since mare's milk is a relatively scarce commodity, commercial products often use cow's milk which has been modified to imitate the chemical and physical properties of horse's milk.

Answer: camel

Caravane is actually a brand name, since the generic term camel milk cheese would be a bit of a giveaway. It is manufactured by a Mauritanian company called Tiviski, and most of their output is consumed locally, with exports to Senegal and a very few specialty shops in other countries.

The process of making cheese from camel's milk is tricky - it does not coagulate as well as some more commonly-used types of milk, and most of the camel herders who make cheese produce a soft-curd or yoghurty cheese for personal use. Caravane is unusual in that they have developed a technique for making a product that more closely resembles what European markets expect a cheese to be like.

Answer: goat

The inclusion of 'chevr' (Chèvre being French for goat, and the generic term for a range of goat's cheeses) in its name might have been a useful clue. Chevrotin is a soft goat's milk cheese (somewhat resembling brie in appearance) produced in the Haute-Savoie region of France, and has an AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) designation, meaning that only cheese from that region can use the name.

The area has quite steep slopes, with a poor soil and damp climate meaning that very little vegetation grows. Nimble goats are the most commonly-found domesticated animals, so their milk is the basis for local cheese-making.

Answer: elk

Moose and elk are the North American and European names for the same animal. It is somewhat strange that the major source for the production of moose cheese is in Scandinavia - one wonders why they don't call it elk cheese. The Swedish company Elk House produces three types of moose cheese: a rind cheese, a blue cheese, and a feta-style cheese. Apparently it is tricky to milk a moose - they are easily disturbed, and their milk then dries up - so the daily milking is done slowly, calmly and silently. Handled carefully, one moose can produce enough milk for about 100 kg of cheese a year.

Answer: water buffalo

To be even more precise, the animal should be an Italian water buffalo, as found in southern Italy. Any cheese called mozzarella must be made according to the traditional method, but alternative types of milk can be used, unless the product is labelled as Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, which must be made from Italian buffalo milk, and be produced in one of the regions of Campania, Lazio, Apulia or Molise. Mozzarella cheese is eaten fresh - within days of being made, a process that involves adding a starting culture to the milk, letting it ripen, then adding rennet to coagulate the mixture into curds and whey.

The whey is drained off, and the curd left to stand in warm water until it reaches the right consistency for the stretching and kneading which is used to produce the final elastic texture and shape the cheese into the familiar spherical shape.

Answer: cow

Although this hard, grainy-textured cheese can have its name shortened to Parmesan, that name can also be used by imitators (outside of Europe - the EU doesn't allow it), so you should look for the full title if you want to be assured of quality. Its name refers to the areas in which it is produced (Parma, Reggio Emilia, and parts of some other provinces). Parmigiano-Reggiano is made from unpasteurised cow's milk.

The morning's milk is combined with the skimmed milk from the evening before, which has been allowed to sit overnight to let the cream separate.

The cheese is formed into a wheel, soaked in brine for three weeks or so, and aged for at least 12 months to produce the lovely stuff you grate over your pasta or salad. To enjoy the full taste experience, buy fresh and grate it yourself - the dried and pre-grated stuff you can buy has a flavour which is only a pale imitation of the fresh cheese.

Answer: donkey

Pule is a Serbian cheese, made from the milk of a specific type of Balkan donkey. Since there are not many milking donkeys (although they can be hand-milked three times a day), this is another cheese with a small production and a large price tag. It has been mentioned in some lists as one of the most expensive cheeses in the world.

The people who produce pule (and run the reserve where the donkeys live) hope that establishing a market for their product will contribute to the preservation of the donkeys, and possibly encourage others to join in the breeding and milking program.

Answer: caribou

Where they make the cheese, in Scandinavia, they call the animals reindeer. North Americans call the same species caribou. Reindeer milk is very rich, with over 20% butterfat, so it makes a soft and creamy cheese. The cheese is white, but yellows quickly when exposed to air. Juustoleip, also known as Finnish squeaky cheese, used to be made from reindeer milk, but is now usually made from cow's colostrum (the rich milk produced just around the time of calving).

Answer: sheep

This classic blue cheese is made from sheep's milk, and only cheese which has been made with milk from Lacaune sheep and been aged in the Combalou caves in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon can legally bear the name, although many similar cheeses are produced and described as Roquefort-style.

The rindless white cheese has a distinctive odour and a crumbly texture, with veins of blue mold produced by Penicillium roqueforti (which is found in the caves where the cheese must be aged).

Answer: yak

Next time you're in Bhutan, keep an eye out for this local delicacy. The cheese is produced by semi-nomadic yak herders who spend their summers in the mountain pastures of eastern Bhutan, and their winters in the warmer areas, where they market the yak products, including butter, a range of cheeses that are only consumed locally, and the aged European-style cheese known as zhitpa (or zhoedoe in the western part of the country). Zhitpa is the traditional cheese used in making Ema Datshi, a curry of chili and cheese which is one of the national dishes of Bhutan.