they often are in cooking, they are "gooey", and "slick, stretchy and runny". Another related group of cooked pressed cheeses is the very hard Italian "grana" cheeses; the best known are Parmesan and Grana Padano. Although their origins lie in the flat and (originally) swampy Po Valley, they share the broad Alpine cheesemaking process, and began after local monasteries initiated drainage programmes from the 11th century onwards. These were Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries, both with sister-houses benefiting from Alpine cheesemaking. They seem to have borrowed their techniques from them, but produced very different cheeses, using much more salt, and less heating, which suited the local availability of materials. Moisture: soft to hard Categorizing cheeses by moisture content or firmness is a common but inexact practice. The lines between soft, semi-soft, semi-hard and hard are arbitrary, and many types of cheese are made in softer or firmer variants. The factor that controls cheese hardness is moisture content, which depends on the pressure with which it is packed into molds, and upon aging time. Soft cheese Cream cheeses are not matured. Brie and Neufchâtel are soft-type cheeses that mature for no more than a month. Neufchâtel is a soft cheese which can be sold after 10 days of maturation. Semi-soft cheese Semi-soft cheeses, and the sub-group Monastery cheeses, have a high moisture content and tend to be mild-tasting. Well-known varieties include Havarti, Munster, Port Salut and Butterkäse. Medium-hard cheese Cheeses that range in texture from semi-soft to firm include Swiss-style cheeses such as Emmental and Gruyère. The same bacteria that give such cheeses their eyes also contribute to their aromatic and sharp flavours. Other semi-soft to firm cheeses include Gouda, Edam, Jarlsberg, Cantal, and Kashkaval/Cașcaval. Cheeses of this type are ideal for melting and are often served on toast for quick snacks or simple meals. Semi-hard cheese Harder cheeses have a lower moisture content than softer cheeses. They are generally packed into molds under more pressure and aged for a longer time than the soft cheeses. Cheeses that are classified as semi-hard to hard include the familiar Cheddar, originating in the village of Cheddar in England but now used as a generic term for this style of cheese, of which varieties are imitated worldwide and are marketed by strength or the length of time they have been aged. Cheddar is one of a family of semi-hard or hard cheeses (including Cheshire and