Certified Cheese Professional 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The classification of cheese primarily based on moisture content involves categorizing cheese into soft, semi-soft, semi-hard, and hard varieties. Soft cheese has a high moisture content, which can result in a creamy texture and a fresh flavor, while hard cheese has a significantly lower moisture content, leading to a firmer texture and often a more concentrated flavor.

Soft cheese typically includes varieties such as Brie and Camembert, which are known for their soft, spreadable qualities due to their moisture. Hard cheese examples include Parmigiano-Reggiano and aged Cheddar, which have been aged longer and have lost a significant amount of moisture, resulting in a firmer texture that can be grated or sliced.

The other classifications, such as fresh and aged or blue and white cheese, are not principally determined by their moisture content, but rather by other factors like aging processes, flavor profiles, or the presence of mold. Fresh cheese refers to cheese that has not been aged and typically has a higher moisture content, but it does not create a contrasting classification like hard cheese does. Therefore, the relationship between soft and hard cheeses in terms of moisture content distinctly defines the correct answer.