QUESTION:  What types of cheeses are included in the prohibition of gevinas Akum?

ANSWER: There are two types of cheese: soft cheese and hard cheese. Until modern times, the most common coagulant that curdled milk into hard cheese was animal rennet, which is typically extracted from the stomach lining of a calf. (Today, microbial rennet, which is extracted from microorganisms, is more common.) Soft cheese is generally made with acids or acid cultures. (Some common acids are vinegar, citric acid and lactic acid.)

Poskim agree that hard cheeses (such as Cheddar, Swiss, and Mozzarella) must be gevinas Yisroel to be kosher. Since these can be made with animal rennet, they were certainly included in the gezeira of Chazal. However, poskim dispute whether soft cheeses (which are acid-set) were included as well. The Aruch Hashulchan (YD 115:16) implies that even a simple cheese made without any coagulant is subject to the laws of gevinas akum.

However, the Pri Chadash (YD 115:21) writes that his tradition was that it is permissible to purchase ricotta cheese from a nochri. He explains that with its soft texture, ricotta cheese is more similar to butter than cheese, and it is not what Chazal referred to as gevina.

Furthermore, he maintains that since it is like butter, it is permissible to buy ricotta cheese that was made from unsupervised milk, just as one can buy butter that was made from unsupervised milk (for reasons beyond the scope of this article).

The status of ricotta cheese has been a matter of dispute throughout the generations and there have been traditions that have allowed it and others that have not.

(To be continued…)