Geth Reviews Cheese: The Low-Sodium Cheese Special

 This review of cheese was prompted by my grandmother, who I wanted to invite to enjoy some cheese, but her requirements for a low-sodium diet for health reasons limited my options. Not to be deterred, I decided to find some low-sodium cheese she could enjoy.

To that end, I purchased some Caciocavallo, lightly salted Mozzarella, and Paneer.

Caciocavallo is a "pulled curd" cheese (also called pasta filata) of Italian origin. It's similar to provolone cheese in texture, though closer to mozzarella in taste. I ordered some very young caciocavallo, and I found it's a fairly soft cheese, with a hard outer rind. The rind is edible, but I recommend against it.

My grandmother found it a very pleasant cheese, and my mother commented she considered it an excellent snacking cheese. If you want a gentle-tasting cheese with low salt but prefer something that isn't straight-up mozzarella, I'd certainly recommend this, 

The Mozzarella I got was the OG Italian cheese, not the shredded stuff in a bag you usually find in American stores. While the taste is somewhat similar, Italian mozzarella is way less salty, far softer, and slightly tangier in taste. It still has a very gentle taste, and the texture is nigh silk-like, which is why it was shipped wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent it from falling apart and melting.

This has a wide variety of uses, from cooking to snacking, and all three of us rather enjoyed it. It does have a short shelf life though, so I recommend eating it within a week or two of purchase.

The last cheese was similar to halloumi, which I discussed in an earlier review, but Paneer is a cheese from the Indian subcontinent and Pakistan. However, unlike halloumi, while it's similar in concept, it's a very low to no-salt cheese, cultured using vinegar instead of traditional rennet. Given it hails from a country that reveres the cow as sacred and thus they do not use animal rennet nor have cheese requiring long culturing, this cheese is a soft cheese with a gentle though meaty taste. The last one makes it a low-salt version of halloumi for vegetarians.

I elected to pan-fry this for a few minutes (a light anti-stick spray or oil coating is recommended) and all three of us had it cooked in small cubes.

Much like Halloumi, this cheese tastes great cooked. Mom and grandma both thought it was like the best aspects of mozzarella and a grilled cheese sandwich. Me, I appreciated how, unlike Halloumi, it's not super salty.

Like Mozzarella, Paneer has a very short shelf life, barely a week once removed from its packaging. It can be eaten raw, cooked by grilling or frying, added to a salad, snacked on, or whatever other purpose you might enjoy cheese for.