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The Lactose Intolerant Cheese Lover

I was talking to someone about cheese today (surprise surprise) and they told me about their huge love for cheese but them not being able to eat it because they were lactose intolerant.  

Now if they had said, 'I'm allergic' or 'I'll die if I eat a piece of cheese', I would leave them alone but this lactose thing has always been a pet peeve of mine. I always feel like I'm responsible if I know there's a chance they could be eating good cheese and they just don't know it. 

Let me give you a few options which could bring you back to the wonderful world that is cheese. 

Lactose-Free Cheese

Firstly, there are quite a few cheeses out there completely lactose free. They aren't great cheeses, more like basics (swiss, cheddar). There's a decent one called 'Lappi' which is mild and creamy, similar to a mild Gouda. It can be used in sandwiches, melted for grilled cheese and is a good replacement for mozzarella in lasagna if you need to go lactose free. 

Yummy

Pills

If you really love cheese that much, there are pills you can take which will allow you to have a piece of good artisan cheese once in a while. It's not the best solution and I hate even suggesting pills but it's an option if you ever want to indulge.

Non-Cow Milk Cheeses

And this is the reason I'm writing this post. There are several families of cheese that are naturally very low in lactose. If you are lactose intolerant, please do me a favour and pick a time where you can test this out and not when you have a very important meeting the next day or something like that. You could be depriving yourself of cheese for no reason and I just can't let that happen. 

Goat Milk and Sheep milk cheeses naturally have very little amounts of lactose. So unless you're super sensitive, you can most likely have them with no issues.

Goat milk is not for everyone because it has that 'barnyardy' taste which you either love or hate. Apart from being low in lactose, they are almost always lower in fat content, which is another bonus.

 

Sheep Milk Cheeses To The Rescue

Sheep milk cheeses are the ones I would really recommend. They are big time crowd-pleasing cheeses because they taste amazing.  The flavours are usually nutty, sweet and delicate. I really haven't seen too many people who don't enjoy a Spanish Manchego or French Etorki. There are a few more in the sheep milk cheese section you can look at.  

Try these out and then if it goes well, you can also try 'water buffalo' milk cheeses. It's another milk that's pretty clean and easy to digest.

Okay that's it, now I can sleep at night knowing you know the facts.  

Until next time, 

Vitali
Co-founder of Cheesyplace.com

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