This is where you find the alpine style of cheeses. They are pressed and what is called cooked. This cooking means the curd and the whey is heated to about 48 – 55 degres C. The reason for this is that they want to extract as much of the whey as they can. The less whey, the firmer the cheese.
This group includes cheeses like Swiss Emmentaler and Gruyère, French Comté and Beaufort, but also Dutch cheese like Gouda and Edamer. Many of them has a washed rind and can endure long maturation. While the majority of cheeses are made from cow’s milk, they can be of any type of milk, really.