9 Unusual Cheeses That You've Probably Never Tried

You wander the cheese aisle, craving a product that isn't a generic block of cheddar, swiss or pepper jack. Maybe you need a cheese that you won't find in the grocery store. In fact, you won't even find some of these varieties in specialty stores. Only a tiny percentage of the world's population has tried any of these cheeses--and if you're willing to fly to another continent or spend hundreds of dollars, you'll count yourself among them.

1. Sakura Cheese

Japanese recipes often lack dairy, focusing instead on meat, rice and vegetables. However, gradual exposure to Western dishes has made Japan the world's biggest cheese importer. The food's popularity led Japan to develop its own varieties, most notably Sakura cheese.

Dairy farms use cow's milk and Japanese yeast to create Sakura, which encases soft, buttery cheese in a mold rind decorated with pickled cherry blossoms. Light and earthy, Sakura's delicate flavor earned Japan a gold medal at the Switzerland Mountain Cheese Olympics.

2. Susu masam

Susu masam is a traditional Malaysian cheese that had dwindled in popularity until new and older generations showed a renewed interest. Farmers start by harvesting buffalo milk, then pour the milk into hollow bamboo reeds and let the cheese ferment for a few days.

This cheese requires only one ingredient: buffalo milk with enough time for fermentation. When it's ready, you'll open the reed to find a white cheese tube like a banana. Malaysians eat susu masam with sugar or fermented fish sauce.

3. Moose Cheese

Milking a moose must be a thankless job, because nobody wants to do it aside from The Elk House in Sweden. The owners milk three moose from May to September each year. After each milking, they produce white-mold cheese, dried blue cheese, creamy blue cheese and feta.

Some Swedish restaurants sell moose cheese, but you can visit The Elk House to taste their offerings directly. Moose cheese has sold for $500 a pound, but you can enjoy affordable treats, such as moose feta cheese parfaits, at their in-house eatery.

4. Leipäjuusto

Not all cow's milk is alike. Cows who recently gave birth produce fresh, nutrient-rich milk called "colostrum" or "beestings." Since this is the first point of nutrition for infants, colostrum is packed with vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats. Colostrum is so rich that heating up the liquid produces a thick custard.

Finland dairy farmers harvest this milk for leipäjuusto: a mild, lightly sweet cheese that producers toast on either side, earning it the nickname "bread cheese." The final product looks like a tortilla or seasoned flatbread. Some call leipäjuusto "Finnish squeaky cheese" because it squeaks against your teeth when you take a bite.

Consumption methods are just as eccentric. Experts recommend heating up the cheese to release the flavors and enjoying it with marinara sauce or cloudberry jam. Many Finnish people incorporate leipäjuusto into their coffee rituals, dropping cheese in the mug like sugar cubes.

5. Oscypek

When you first see oscypek, you might mistake these cheeses for bread loaves or carved wooden ornaments. In fact, cheesemakers press oscypek into wooden molds to create festive patterns, thin edges and ridged textures.

The browned surface gives them a breadlike appearance. However, slicing into oscypek doesn't reveal a fluffy loaf: it reveals a rich, yellowish cheese that experts recommend frying and serving with cranberry marmalade.

Oscypek's Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status limits the world's producers to licensed Polish sheepherders. They exclusively milk Polish Mountain Sheep to produce oscypek. Once they harvest the milk, they add rennet, separate the whey, mold the cheese and smoke it for several days, creating its distinct appearance.

6. Milbenkäse

When German manufacturers prepare Milbenkäse, they receive help from tens of thousands of tiny cheese mites. Farmers make quark from cow's, sheep's or goat's milk, then season and dry the cheese before tossing it in a box with mites and rye flour.

Mites nibble on the cheese for the next few months, fermenting the quark with their digestive juices. Farmers periodically add more rye flour so that the mites don't devour the whole stash. Eventually, the soft quark becomes a hard, flaky cheese.

Surely, you brush off the mites before taking a bite of the final product? Nope--you eat the whole cheese, mites and all. Supposedly, the cheese has a tangy flavor and lasts up to 30 years in dry storage. Eating Milbenkäse with bread and butter might make the cheese more palatable.

7. Caravane

Yep, you can drink camel's milk--and you can make cheese from it, too. In the 90s, Nancy Abeiderrhamane made camel's milk cheese at her West Africa dairy. Reportedly, camel's milk is three times more nutritious than cow's milk and is easier to digest than other cheeses. Caravane also has less fat, making it ideal if you're looking for a lighter cheese.

Caravane tastes salty yet sweet and produces a soft rind. Some call it "camelbert" because it resembles a camembert wheel. This cheese hasn't taken off in the Western world yet, but if you find Caravane at a specialty cheese store, try making snacks and appetizers with this creamy product.

8. Brânză de burduf

Sheep herders work in the Bucegi Mountains for months to produce Romanian cheeses, including Brânză de burduf. Every summer, herders milk the sheep three times a day, living in secluded pastures with few roads. They make Caș by curdling sheep's milk with lamb or veal rennet, then use the cheese as a base for Brânză de burduf.

After draining and fermenting the curd, herders grind the cheese with salt and prepare it for aging. However, they don't age their cheese in caves or on shelves. Instead, they store Brânză de burduf in tubes of fir bark, making the cheese resemble a pile of logs.

Once harvested, Brânză de burduf has a salty, spicy flavor. The fir bark infuses the cheese with the earthy aroma of resin. Ask an expert about rustic breads and crackers to pair with this worldly snack.

9. Pule

One of the world's most expensive cheeses doesn't come from pampered cows or a billionaire's pet goat. In fact, pule comes from the humble donkey. A Serbian farm milks about 100 donkeys and sells their cheese for nearly $600 a pound, using the funds for conservationism.

Since donkeys produce a fraction of the milk as cows and require much more effort, pule's rarity alone makes it a delicacy. Pule is white and crumbly like goat cheese and boasts a strong flavor. Maybe one day, donkey milk will take off and you'll find pule in the grocery store--until then, you'll be saving up for a while.

Have you tried any of these rare cheeses? Which ones would you try if money weren't a factor? Sound off in the comments.