What are the best cheeses for melting, and how do I know how they will behave under heat?
Andrew, Gamboa, Panama
We probably first need to define what we mean by melting, says Rob Lightbody from Neal’s Yard Dairy. “Most cheese will melt, but when a cheesemonger talks about ‘a good melter’, they’re probably talking about that satisfying stretch and pull you get from a good toastie, or from raclette melted over potatoes.” But Andrew’s right: because different cheeses do different things under heat, and that comes down to a few factors.
First, says Jazz Reeves, quality manager at cheesemonger Paxton & Whitfield, there’s the moisture and fat content. “When cheese is heated, the protein structure breaks down and it releases the fat and water, so cheese with higher fat and moisture tends to melt well.” Acidity also comes into play: “Cheese with high acidity [eg feta] won’t melt, but low-acidity cheeses [parmesan, say] won’t melt, either, so look for something in the middle.” That’s to say a pH level between 5 and 5.4, says Oli Smith, co-owner of The Bristol Cheesemonger. Mozzarella, he adds, “melts beautifully and produces those extraordinary stretches because it’s at that pH sweet spot of about 5.2”. Then there’s the age of the cheese to consider. “Younger ones are held together by a sort of protein matrix,” Smith explains, but that breaks down with time, which is why you can get those oil pools when extra-mature cheddar goes under the grill.
