Why You Might Want To Think Twice About Eating Sheep Cheese

It's difficult to say no cheese, especially when it's one of those ingredients that can make nearly any dish infinitely better. For many, cheese is their idea of comfort food. Maybe you like eating grilled cheese sandwiches or always find yourself arranging some kind of tasty cheeseboard to enjoy as a snack. But as a fan of cheese, you're probably aware that there are several types of cheese to choose from in a plethora of flavors, perfect for all kinds of dishes.

However, some cheeses are better for you than others. For example, you can't go wrong with a serving of Muenster cheese if you have a sensitive digestive system and want to avoid lactose in high amounts, or indulging in some mozzarella if you're not a fan of sharp or strong-smelling versions. But looking past cow's milk cheese, you might be wondering about those that come from sheep or goats. Unfortunately, when it comes to sheep cheese at least, it's normally best to keep those purchases at a minimum. Here's why.

The problem with sheep cheese is fairly simple. Because it is derived from sheep, it becomes a lot harder to keep up with demand. Unlike cows, it's very difficult to produce a large quantity of milk from sheep. Slate reported that researchers from MTT Agrifood Research Finland dug into this topic further, and analyzed how much methane was emitted by cows, sheep, and goats. They realized that sheep found it the toughest to deliver in terms of efficiency and released twice the amount of methane compared to goats and cows. Yikes.

If you're looking for a way to help the environment, it's a great idea to opt for goat cheese instead. Goats are well-equipped and meet the demand for milk and cheese, so it makes sense to consume goat cheese instead of other varieties for that reason. Plus, goat cheese is really versatile, as a Reddit user points out. They wrote, "Goat cheese pairs really well with lots of stuff. I often use goat cheese in recipes that call for cream cheese." Happy snacking!