Feta vs goat Cheese
It’s very common for a lot of people not to make a distinction between feta and goat cheese. Feta cheese actually contains a larger content of sheep’s milk than goat’s milk, with about 70 percent to 30 percent respectively. Goat cheese is made from wholly goat milk and although this is the case there are good reasons why these two often get mixed up.
For long, feta was traditionally made in the Mediterranean countries where it was a norm to keep it until three months elapsed. To ensure that proper classification is made for feta cheese, the milk content is checked as well as the amount of time the cheese was kept to allow it to ripen and if those are accurate then it can be correctly classified as feta. The word feta is derived from the Greek meaning of ‘slice’ and that’s why this type of cheese is synonymous with many Greek dishes and delicacies.
Differing from feta, goat cheese is made from 100 percent goat’s milk. Goat cheeses are kept for a shorter period of time compared to feta cheese and they are usually ready for consumption as soon as the cheese has been formed and salted during the process of goat-cheese making. Some variants of goat cheese may take longer, say one to three months even. Goat cheese will have a stronger flavor if it was kept longer. Goat cheeses are common in France and it is there that many explorations of the various goat cheeses are done. Young goat cheese tastes greatly different from the aged one and it can be a good experience to experiment with all tastes. One can tell a young goat cheese from an aged one by observing the color of the rind. For aged cheese it will be darker whereas for young cheese it will be whiter.
Both feta and goat cheese are white when cut and are relatively soft but they have got quite different flavors. A salty taste is the dominant flavor in the feta cheese while for the goat cheese it is sweeter and softer but it’s important to remember that goat cheese varieties will not taste the same given their varying age but age in a goat cheese does not make it taste saltier but rather the flavor becomes stronger in complexity in goat cheese that have lasted longer.
Summary:
1. Feta is made from partial goat and sheep’s milk while goat cheese is wholly goat’s milk.
2. Feta is kept for a longer time to ripen while goat cheese is kept for shorter duration.
3. Feta is accustomed to Greek delicacies while goat cheeses in general are a delight in France.
4. Feta is relatively harder and tastes saltier while goat cheese is softer and sweeter.