Sheep cheese or cow cheese: what really separates them
Published
Sheep cheese holds about twice the protein and four times less lactose than cow cheese, per 100 grams. The taste, meanwhile, stays mild and close to cow's milk.
The question comes up at every market and every counter: how is a sheep cheese different from a cow cheese? The short answer is denser. The long answer reads line by line.
A more concentrated milk, so a denser cheese
Sheep's milk is naturally richer in fat and protein than cow's milk. Tommy Bouchard, at Fromagerie La Moutonnière, puts it plainly: a taste close to cow's milk, but with more fat, more protein and slightly more calories.
That density is not a spec-sheet detail. It explains why a small wedge of sheep cheese satisfies faster, why the paste feels richer in the mouth, and why the same volume of milk yields more cheese.
The comparison, per 100 grams
These are the eleven lines Fromagerie La Moutonnière publishes on its home page. They compare two cheeses — not two raw milks — and the figures come from the creamery itself.
| Characteristic | Cow's milk cheese | Sheep's milk cheese |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 100 kcal | 200 kcal |
| Cholesterol | ≃ 50 mg | ≃ 70 mg |
| Fat | 7 g | 14 g |
| Protein | 7 g | 14 g |
| Carbohydrates | 4 g | 2 g |
| Vitamin A | 64 µg | 220 µg |
| Vitamin D | 4 % DV | 10 % DV |
| Vitamin B12 | 12 % DV | 44 % DV |
| Phosphorus | 110 mg | 244 mg |
| Lactose | ≃ 4 % | ≃ 1 % |
| Omega-3 | < 40 mg | 40 à 100 mg |
Figures per 100 g provided by the creamery; calcium still to be confirmed.
Three gaps stand out: protein doubles, lactose is cut by four, and vitamin B12 climbs from 12 % to 44 % of the recommended daily value.
Lactose: what the figure says, and what it does not
This is the line most people care about, and the one worth reading carefully. Sheep cheese carries roughly four times less lactose than cow cheese, and many people who digest cow's milk poorly tolerate it better.
One point deserves to be stated plainly: sheep's milk is not a lactose-free milk, and sheep cheese is not a lactose-free cheese. The figure compares two aged cheeses, not two milks straight from the animal. Fromagerie La Moutonnière calls it a good compromise, never a lactose-free product.
Taste: the difference that shows up daily
Nutritionally the gap is measurable. On taste, it is subtler than people expect. Sheep cheese stays mild, close to cow's milk, with a roundness and a length in the mouth that the fat largely explains.
The most common mix-up, in fact, is not with cow but with goat. The two animals look alike, so people assume the cheeses do too. They do not: goat's milk has a sharp, pronounced character, while sheep's milk stays mild.
What that looks like at La Moutonnière
Fromagerie La Moutonnière has been transforming sheep's milk since 1992, in Sainte-Hélène-de-Chester, and was the first creamery in Québec to do so. Its catalogue covers firm paste with Fleurs des Monts, semi-firm with Bercail, blue-veined with Bleu, soft with Cabanon and Foin d'odeur, plus a feta, a ricotta and a sheep's milk yogurt.
One exception is worth knowing before ordering: Sein d'Hélène is the only product in the catalogue that is not entirely sheep's milk. It is made half sheep, half cow, and its mountain shape recalls the hills of Sainte-Hélène-de-Chester.