Each cheese is listed by its name and country of origin, with any further information available. Unless otherwise indicated, the cheese is made of cow's milk.
Aberdeen
Scotland
Soft; creamy mellow.
Abertam
Bohemia (Made near Carlsbad)
Hard; sheep; distinctive, with a savory smack all its own.
Absinthe see Petafina.
Acidophilus see Saint-Ivel.
Aettekees
Belgium
November to May—winter-made and eaten.
Affiné, Carré see Ancien Impérial.
Affumicata, Mozzarella see Mozzarella.
After-dinner cheeses see Chapter 8.
Agricultural school cheeses see College-educated.
Aiguilles, Fromage d'
Alpine France
Named "Cheese of the Needles" from the sharp Alpine peaks of the district where it is made.
Aizy, Cendrée d' see Cendrée.
Ajacilo, Ajaccio
Corsica
Semihard; piquant; nut-flavor. Named after the chief city of French Corsica where a cheese-lover, Napoleon, was born.
à la Crème see Fromage, Fromage Blanc, Chevretons.
à la Main see Vacherin.
à la Pie see Fromage.
à la Rachette see Bagnes.
Albini
Northern Italy
Semihard; made of both goat and cow milk; white, mellow, pleasant-tasting table cheese.
Albula
Switzerland
Rich with the flavor of cuds of green herbs chewed into creamy milk that makes tasty curds. Made in the fertile Swiss Valley of Albula whose proud name it bears.
Alderney
Channel Islands
The French, who are fond of this special product of the very special breed of cattle named after the Channel Island of Alderney, translate it phonetically—Fromage d'Aurigny.
Alemtejo
Portugal
Called in full Queijo de Alemtejo, cheese of Alemtejo, in the same way that so many French cheeses carry along the fromage title. Soft; sheep and sometimes goat or cow; in cylinders of three sizes, weighing respectively about two ounces, one pound, and four pounds. The smaller sizes are the ones most often made with mixed goat and sheep milk. The method of curdling without the usual animal rennet is interesting and unusual. The milk is warmed and curdled with vegetable rennet made from the flowers of a local thistle, or cardoon, which is used in two other Portuguese cheeses—Queijo da Cardiga and Queijo da Serra da Estrella—and probably in many others not known beyond their locale. In France la Caillebotte is distinguished for being clabbered with chardonnette, wild artichoke seed. In Portugal, where there isn't so much separating of the sheep from the goats, it takes several weeks for Alemtejos to ripen, depending on the lactic content and difference in sizes.
Alfalfa see Sage.
Alise Saint-Reine
France
Soft; summer-made.
Allgäuer Bergkäse, Allgäuer Rundkäse,
or Allgäuer Emmentaler
Bavaria
Hard; Emmentaler type. The small district of Allgäu names a mountain of cheeses almost as fabulous as our "Rock-candy Mountain." There are two principal kinds, vintage Allgäuer Bergkäse and soft Allgäuer Rahmkäse, described below. This celebrated cheese section runs through rich pasture lands right down and into the Swiss Valley of the Emme that gives the name Emmentaler to one of the world's greatest. So it is no wonder that Allgäuer Bergkäse can compete with the best Swiss. Before the Russian revolution, in fact, all vintage cheeses of Allgäu were bought up by wealthy Russian noblemen and kept in their home caves in separate compartments for each year, as far back as the early 1900's. As with fine vintage wines, the price of the great years went up steadily. Such cheeses were shipped to their Russian owners only when the chief cheese-pluggers of Allgäu found they had reached their prime.
Allgäuer Rahmkäse
Bavaria
Full cream, similar to Romadur and Limburger, but milder than both. This sets a high grade for similar cheeses made in the Bavarian mountains, in monasteries such as Andechs. It goes exquisitely with the rich dark Bavarian beer. Some of it is as slippery as the stronger, smellier Bierkäse, or the old-time Slipcote of England. Like so many North Europeans, it is often flavored with caraway. Although entirely different from its big brother, vintage Bergkäse, Rahmkäse can stand proudly at its side as one of the finest cheeses in Germany.
Alpe see Fiore di Alpe.
Al Pepe
Italy
Hard and peppery, like its name. Similar to Pepato (see).
Similar to Bel Paese.
Alpestra
Austria
A smoked cheese that tastes, smells and inhales like whatever fish it was smoked with. The French Alps has a different Alpestre; Italy spells hers Alpestro.
Alpestre, Alpin, or Fromage de Briançon
France
Hard; goat; dry; small; lightly salted. Made at Briançon and Gap.
Alpestro
Italy
Semisoft; goat; dry; lightly salted.
Alpin or Clérimbert
Alpine France
The milk is coagulated with rennet at 80° F. in two hours. The curd is dipped into molds three to four inches in diameter and two and a half inches in height, allowed to drain, turned several times for one day only, then salted and ripened one to two weeks.
Altenburg, or Altenburger Ziegenkäse
Germany
Soft; goat; small and flat—one to two inches thick, eight inches in diameter, weight two pounds.
Alt Kuhkäse Old Cow Cheese
Germany
Hard; well-aged, as its simple name suggests.
Altsohl see Brinza.
Ambert, or Fourme d'Ambert
Limagne, Auvergne, France
A kind of Cheddar made from November to May and belonging to the Cantal—Fourme-La Tome tribe.
American, American Cheddar
U.S.A.
Described under their home states and distinctive names are a dozen fine American Cheddars, such as Coon, Wiscon sin, Herkimer County and Tillamook, to name only a few. They come in as many different shapes, with traditional names such as Daisies, Flats, Longhorns, Midgets, Picnics, Prints and Twins. The ones simply called Cheddars weigh about sixty pounds. All are made and pressed and ripened in about the same way, although they differ greatly in flavor and quality. They are ripened anywhere from two months to two years and become sharper, richer and more flavorsome, as well as more expensive, with the passing of time. See Cheddar states and Cheddar types in Chapter 4.
Americano Romano
U.S.A.
Hard; brittle; sharp.
Amou
Béarn, France
Winter cheese, October to May.
Anatolian
Turkey
Hard; sharp.
Anchovy Links
U.S.A.
American processed cheese that can be mixed up with anchovies or any fish from whitebait to whale, made like a sausage and sold in handy links.
Ancien Impérial
Normandy, France
Soft; fresh cream; white, mellow and creamy like Neufchâtel and made in the same way. Tiny bricks packaged in tin foil, two inches square, one-half inch thick, weighing three ounces. Eaten both fresh and when ripe. It is also called Carré and has separate names for the new and the old: (a) Petit Carré when newly made; (b) Carré Affiné, when it has reached a ripe old age, which doesn't take long—about the same time as Neufchâtel.
Andean
Venezuela
A cow's-milker made in the Andes near Mérida. It is formed into rough cubes and wrapped in the pungent, aromatic leaves of Frailejón Lanudo (Espeletia Schultzii) which imparts to it a characteristic flavor. (Description given in Buen Provecho! by Dorothy Kamen-Kaye.)
Andechs
Bavaria
A lusty Allgäuer type. Monk-made on the monastery hill at Andechs on Ammersee. A superb snack with equally monkish dark beer, black bread and blacker radishes, served by the brothers in dark brown robes.
Antwerp
Belgium
Semihard; nut-flavored; named after its place of origin.
Appenzeller
Switzerland, Bavaria and Baden
Semisoft Emmentaler type made in a small twenty-pound wheel—a pony-cart wheel in comparison to the big Swiss. There are two qualities: (a) Common, made of skim milk and cured in brine for a year; (b) Festive, full milk, steeped in brine with wine, plus white wine lees and pepper. The only cheese we know of that is ripened with lees of wine.
Appetitost
Denmark
Semisoft; sour milk; nutlike flavor. It's an appetizer that lives up to its name, eaten fresh on the spot, from the loose bottom pans in which it is made.
Appetost
Denmark
Sour buttermilk, similar to Primula, with caraway seeds added for snap. Imitated in U.S.A.
A small New York State Cheddar put up in the form of a red-cheeked apple for New York City trade. Inspired by the pear-shaped Provolone and Baby Gouda, no doubt.
Arber
Bohemia
Semihard; sour milk; yellow; mellow and creamy. Made in mountains between Bohemia and Silesia.
Argentine
Argentina
Argentina is specially noted for fine reproductions of classical Italian hard-grating cheeses such as Parmesan and Romano, rich and fruity because of the lush pampas-grass feeding.
Armavir
Western Caucasus
Soft; whole sour sheep milk; a hand cheese made by stirring cold, sour buttermilk or whey into heated milk, pressing in forms and ripening in a warm place. Similar to Hand cheese.
Arnauten see Travnik.
Arovature
Italy
Water-buffalo milk.
Arras, Coeurs d' see Coeurs.
Arrigny
Champagne, France
Made only in winter, November to May. Since gourmet products of the same province often have a special affinity, Arrigny and champagne are specially well suited to one another.
Artichoke, Cardoon or Thistle for Rennet see Caillebotte.
Artificial Dessert Cheese
In the lavish days of olde England Artificial Dessert Cheese was made by mixing one quart of cream with two of milk and spiking it with powdered cinnamon, nutmeg and mace. Four beaten eggs were then stirred in with one-half cup of white vinegar and the mixture boiled to a curd. It was then poured into a cheesecloth and hung up to drain six to eight hours. When taken out of the cloth it was further flavored with rose water, sweetened with castor sugar, left to ripen for an hour or two and finally served up with more cream.
Asadero, or Oaxaca
Jalisco and Oaxaca, Mexico
White; whole-milk. Curd is heated, and hot curd is cut and braided or kneaded into loaves from eight ounces to eleven pounds in weight Asadero means "suitable for roasting."
Asco
Corsica, France
Made only in the winter season, October to May.
Asiago I, II and III
Vicenza, Italy
Sometimes classed as medium and mild, depending mostly on age. Loaves weigh about eighteen pounds each and look like American Cheddar but have a taste all their own.
I. Mild, nutty and sharp, used for table slicing and eating.
II. Medium, semihard and tangy, also used for slicing until nine months old.
III. Hard, old, dry, sharp, brittle. When over nine months old, it's fine for grating.
Asin, or Water cheese
Northern Italy
Sour-milk; washed-curd; whitish; soft; buttery. Made mostly in spring and eaten in summer and autumn. Dessert cheese, frequently eaten with honey and fruit.
Au Cumin
see Münster.
Au Fenouil
see Tome de Savoie.
Au Foin and de Foin
A style of ripening "on the hay." See Pithiviers au Foin and Fromage de Foin.
Augelot
Valée d'Auge, Normandy, France
Soft; tangy; piquant Pont l'Evêque type.
d'Auray see Sainte-Anne.
Aurigny, Fromage d' see Alderney.
Aurillac see Bleu d'Auvergne.
Aurore and Triple Aurore
Normandy, France
Made and eaten all year.
Australian and New Zealand
Australia and New Zealand
Enough cheese is produced for local consumption, chiefly Cheddar; some Gruyère, but unfortunately mostly processed.
Autun
Nivernais, France
Produced and eaten all year. Fromage de Vache is another name for it and this is of special interest in a province where the chief competitors are made of goat's milk.
Auvergne, Bleu d' see Bleu.
Au Vin Blanc, Confits see Epoisses.
Avesnes, Boulette d' see Boulette.
Aydes, les
Orléanais, France
Not eaten during July, August or September. Season, October to June.
Soft, sheep, sapid and extremely oily as the superlative ão implies. There are no finer, fatter cheeses in the world than those made of rich sheep milk in the mountains of Portugal and named for them.
Azeitoso
Portugal
Soft; mellow, zestful and as oily as it is named.
Azuldoch Mountain
Turkey
Mild and mellow mountain product.
Backsteiner
Bavaria
Resembles Limburger, but smaller, and translates Brick, from the shape. It is aromatic and piquant and not very much like the U.S. Brick.
Bagnes, or Fromage à la Raclette
Switzerland
Not only hard but very hard, named from racler, French for "scrape." A thick, one-half-inch slice is cut across the whole cheese and toasted until runny. It is then scraped off the pan it's toasted in with a flexible knife, spread on bread and eaten like an open-faced Welsh Rabbit sandwich.
Bagozzo, Grana Bagozzo, Bresciano
Italy
Hard; yellow; sharp. Surface often colored red. Parmesan type.
Bakers' cheese
Skim milk, similar to cottage cheese, but softer and finer grained. Used in making bakery products such as cheese cake, pie, and pastries, but may also be eaten like creamed cottage cheese.
Made from thick sour milk in Pennsylvania in the style of the original Pennsylvania Dutch settlers.
Ballakäse or Womelsdorf
Similar to Ball.
Balls, Dutch Red
English name for Edam.
Banbury
England
Soft, rich cylinder about one inch thick made in the town of Banbury, famous for its spicy, citrus-peel buns and its equestrienne. Banbury cheese with Banbury buns made a sensational snack in the early nineteenth century, but both are getting scarce today.
Banick
Armenia
White and sweet.
Banjaluka
Bosnia
Port-Salut type from its Trappist monastery.
Banon, or les Petits Banons
Provence, France,
Small, dried, sheep-milker, made in the foothills of the Alps and exported through Marseilles in season, May to November. This sprightly summer cheese is generously sprinkled with the local brandy and festively wrapped in fresh green leaves.
Bar cheese
U.S.A.
Any saloon Cheddar, formerly served on every free-lunch counter in the U.S. Before Prohibition, free-lunch cheese was the backbone of America's cheese industry.
Barbacena
Minas Geraes, Brazil
Hard, white, sometimes chalky. Named from its home city in the leading cheese state of Brazil.
Barberey, or Fromage de
Troyes
Champagne, France
Soft, creamy and smooth, resembling Camembert, five to six inches in diameter and 1¼ inches thick. Named from its home town, Barberey, near Troyes, whose name it also bears. Fresh, warm milk is coagulated by rennet in four hours. Uncut curd then goes into a wooden mold with a perforated bottom, to drain three hours, before being finished off in an earthenware mold. The cheeses are salted, dried and ripened three weeks in a cave. The season is from November to May and when made in summer they are often sold fresh.
Barboux
France
Soft.
Baronet
U.S.A.
A natural product, mild and mellow.
Barron
France
Soft.
Bassillac see Bleu.
Bath
England
Gently made, lightly salted, drained on a straw mat in the historic resort town of Bath. Ripened in two weeks and eaten only when covered with a refined fuzzy mold that's also eminently edible. It is the most delicate of English-speaking cheeses.
Battelmatt
Switzerland, St. Gothard Alps, northern Italy, and western
Austria
An Emmentaler made small where milk is not plentiful. The "wheel" is only sixteen inches in diameter and four inches high, weighing forty to eighty pounds. The cooking of the curd is done at a little lower temperature than Emmentaler, it ripens more rapidly—in four months — and is somewhat softer, but has the same holes and creamy though sharp, full nutty flavor.
Bauden (see also Koppen)
Germany, Austria, Bohemia and Silesia
Semisoft, sour milk, hand type, made in herders' mountain huts in about the same way as Harzkäse, though it is bigger. In two forms, one cup shape (called Koppen), the other a cylinder. Strong and aromatic, whether made with or without caraway.
Bavarian Beer cheese see Bayrischer Bierkäse.
Bavarian Cream
German
Very soft; smooth and creamy. Made in the Bavarian mountains. Especially good with sweet wines and sweet sauces.
Bavarois à la Vanille see Fromage Bavarois.
Bayonne see Fromage de Bayonne.
Bayrischer Bierkäse
Bavaria
Bavarian beer cheese from the Tyrol is made not only to eat with beer, but to dunk in it.
Beads of cheese
Tibet
Beads of hard cheese, two inches in diameter, are strung like a necklace of cowrie shells or a rosary, fifty to a hundred on a string. Also see Money Made of Cheese.
Beagues see Tome de Savoie.
Bean Cake, Tao-foo, or Tofu
China, Japan, the Orient
Soy bean cheese imported from Shanghai and other oriental ports, and also imitated in every Chinatown around the world. Made from the milk of beans and curdled with its own vegetable rennet.
Beaumont, or Tome de Beaumont
Savoy, France
A more or less successful imitation of Trappist Tamie, a trade-secret triumph of Savoy. At its best from October to June.
Beaupré de Roybon
Dauphiné, France
A winter specialty made from November to April.
Beckenried
Switzerland
A good mountain cheese from goat milk.
Beer cheese
U.S.A.
While our beer cheese came from Germany and the word is merely a translation of Bierkäse, we use it chiefly for a type of strong Limburger made mostly in Milwaukee. This fine, aromatic cheese is considered by many as the very best to eat while drinking beer. But in Germany Bierkäse is more apt to be dissolved in a glass or stein of beer, much as we mix malted powder in milk, and drunk with it, rather than eaten.
Beer-Regis
Dorsetshire, England
This sounds like another beer cheese, but it's only a mild Cheddar named after its hometown in Dorsetshire.
Beist-Cheese
Scotland
A curiosity of the old days. "The first milk after a calving, boiled or baked to a thick consistency, the result somewhat resembling new-made cheese, though this is clearly not a true cheese." (MacNeill)
Belarno
Italy
Hard; goat; creamy dessert cheese.
Belgian Cooked
Belgium
The milk, which has been allowed to curdle spontaneously, is skimmed and allowed to drain. When dry it is thoroughly kneaded by hand and is allowed to undergo fermentation, which takes ordinarily from ten to fourteen days in winter and six to eight days in summer. When the fermentation is complete, cream and salt are added and the mixture is heated slowly and stirred until homogeneous, when it is put into molds and allowed to ripen for eight days longer. A cheese ordinarily weighs about three-and-a-half pounds. It is not essentially different from other forms of cooked cheese.
Beli Sir see Domaci.
Bellelay, Tête de Moine, or Monk's Head
Switzerland
Soft, buttery, semisharp spread. Sweet milk is coagulated with rennet in twenty to thirty minutes, the curd cut fairly fine and cooked not so firm as Emmentaler, but firmer than Limburger. After being pressed, the cheeses are wrapped in bark for a couple of weeks until they can stand alone. Since no eyes are desired in the cheeses, they are ripened in a moist cellar at a lowish temperature. They take a year to ripen and will keep three or four years. The diameter is seven inches, the weight nine to fifteen pounds. The monk's head after cutting is kept wrapped in a napkin soaked in white wine and the soft, creamy spread is scraped out to "butter" bread and snacks that go with more white wine. Such combinations of old wine and old cheese suggest monkish influence, which began here in the fifteenth century with the jolly friars of the Canton of Bern. There it is still made exclusively and not exported, for there's never quite enough to go around.
See under Foreign Greats, Chapter 3. Also see Mel Fino, a blend, and Bel Paese types—French Boudanne and German Saint Stefano. The American imitation is not nearly so good as the Italian original.
Bel Paesino
U.S.A.
A play on the Bel Paese name and fame. Weight one pound and diminutive in every other way.
Bergkäse see Allgäuer.
Bergquara
Sweden
Semihard, fat, resembles Dutch Gouda. Tangy, pleasant taste. Gets sharper with age, as they all do. Molded in cylinders of fifteen to forty pounds. Popular in Sweden since the eighteenth century.
Berkeley
England
Named after its home town in Gloucester, England.
Berliner Kuhkäse
Berlin, Germany
Cow cheese, pet-named turkey cock cheese by Berlin students. Typical German hand cheese, soft; aromatic with caraway seeds, and that's about the only difference between it and Alt Kuhkäse, without caraway.
Bernarde, Formagelle Bernarde
Italy
Cow's whole milk, to which about 10% of goat's milk is added for flavor. Cured for two months.
Berques
France
Made of skim milk.
Berry Rennet see Withania.
Bessay, le
Bourbonnais, France
Soft, mild, and creamy.
Cream cheeses, small, flat, round. Excellent munching.
Bierkäse
Germany
There are several of these unique beer cheeses that are actually dissolved in a stein of beer and drunk down with it in the Bierstubes, notably Bayrischer, Dresdener, and Olmützer. Semisoft; aromatic; sharp. Well imitated in echt Deutsche American spots such as Milwaukee and Hoboken.
Bifrost
Norway
Goat; white; mildly salt. Imitated in a process spread in 4¼-ounce package.
Binn
Wallis, Switzerland
Exceptionally fine Swiss from the great cheese canton of Wallis.
Bitto
Northern Italy
Hard Emmentaler type made in the Valtellina. It is really two cheeses in one. When eaten fresh, it is smooth, sapid, big-eyed Swiss. When eaten after two years of ripening, it is very hard and sharp and has small eyes.
Blanc à la crème see Fromage Blanc.
Blanc see Fromage Blanc I and II.
Bleu
France
Brittle; blue-veined; smooth; biting.
Bleu d'Auvergne or Fromage Bleu
Auvergne, France
Hard; sheep or mixed sheep, goat or cow; from Pontgibaud and Laqueuille ripening caves. Similar to better-known Cantal of the same province. Akin to Roquefort and Stilton, and to Bleu de Laqueuille.
Bleu de Bassillac
Limousin, France
Blue mold of Roquefort type that's prime from November to May.
Similar to Bleu d'Auvergne, but with a different savor. Named for its originator, Antoine Roussel-Laqueuille, who first made it a century ago, in 1854.
Bleu de Limousin, Fromage
Lower Limousin
Practically the same as Bleu de Bassillac, from Lower Limousin.
Bleu de Salers
France
A variety of Bleu d'Auvergne from the same province distinguished for its blues that are green. With the majority, this is at its best only in the winter months, from November to May.
Bleu, Fromage see Bleu d'Auvergne.
Bleu-Olivet see Olivet.
Blind
The name for cheeses lacking the usual holes of the type they belong to, such as blind Swiss.
Block Edam
U.S.A.
U.S. imitation of the classical Dutch cheese named after the town of Edam.
Block, Smoked
Austria
The name is self-explanatory and suggests a well-colored meerschaum.
Bloder, or Schlicker Milch
Switzerland
Sour-milker.
Blue Cheddar see Cheshire-Stilton.
Blue, Danish see Danish Blue.
Blue Dorset see Dorset.
Blue, Jura see Jura Bleu and Septmoncel.
Blue, and Blue with Port Links
U.S.A.
One of the modern American process sausages.
Blue, Minnesota see Minnesota.
Blue Moon
U.S.A.
A process product.
Blue Vinny, Blue Vinid, Blue-veined Dorset, or Double
Dorset
Dorsetshire, England
A unique Blue that actually isn't green-veined. Farmers make it for private consumption, because it dries up too easily to market. An epicurean esoteric match for Truckles No. 1 of Wiltshire. It comes in a flat form, chalk-white, crumbly and sharply flavored, with a "royal Blue" vein running right through horizontally. The Vinny mold, from which it was named, is different from all other cheese molds and has a different action.
Bocconi Geganti
Italy
Sharp and smoky specialty.
Bocconi Provoloni see Provolone.
Boîte see Fromage de Boîte.
Bombay
India
Hard; goat; dry; sharp. Good to crunch with a Bombay Duck in place of a cracker.
Bondes see Bondon de Neufchâtel.
Bondon de Neufchâtel, or Bondes
Normandy, France
Nicknamed Bonde à tout bien, from resemblance to the bung in a barrel of Neuchâtel wine. Soft, small loaf rolls, fresh and mild. Similar to Gournay, but sweeter because of 2% added sugar.
Bondon de Rouen
France
A fresh Neufchâtel, similar to Petit Suisse, but slightly salted, to last up to ten days.
When caraway seed is added this is called Kommenost, spelled Kuminost in Norway.
Bond Ost
U.S.A.
Imitation of Scandinavian cheese, with small production in Wisconsin.
Bon Larron
France
Romantically named "the penitent thief."
Borden's
U.S.A.
A full line of processed and naturals, of which Liederkranz is the leader.
Borelli
Italy
A small water-buffalo cheese.
Bossons Maceres
Provence, France
A winter product, December, January, February and March only.
Boudanne
France
Whole or skimmed cow's milk, ripens in two to three months.
Boudes, Boudon
Normandy, France
Soft, fresh, smooth, creamy, mild child of the Neufchâtel family.
Bougon Lamothe see Lamothe.
Bouillé, la
Normandy France
One of this most prolific province's thirty different notables. In season October to May.
Boule de Lille
France
Name given to Belgian Oude Kaas by the French who enjoy it.
Boulette d'Avesnes, or Boulette de
Cambrai
Flanders, France
Made from November to May, eaten all year.
Bourgain
France
Type of fresh Neufchâtel made in France. Perishable and consumed locally.
Bourgognes see Petits Bourgognes.
Box
Württemberg, Germany
Similar to U.S. Brick. It comes in two styles; firm, and soft:
I. Also known as Schachtelkäse, Boxed Cheese; and Hohenheim, where it is made. A rather unimportant variety. Made in a copper kettle, with partially skim milk, colored with saffron and spiked with caraway, a handful to every two hundred pounds. Salted and ripened for three months and shipped in wooden boxes.
II. Also known by names of localities where made: Hohenburg, Mondess and Weihenstephan. Made of whole milk. Mild but piquant.
Bra No. I
Piedmont, Italy
Hard, round form, twelve inches in diameter, three inches high, weight twelve pounds. A somewhat romantic cheese, made by nomads who wander with their herds from pasture to pasture in the region of Bra.
Bra No. II
Turin and Cuneo, Italy
Soft, creamy, small, round and mild although cured in brine.
Brand or Brandkäse
Germany
Soft, sour-milk hand cheese, weighing one-third of a pound. The curd is cooked at a high temperature, then salted and set to ferment for a day. Butter is then mixed into it before pressing into small bricks. After drying it is put in used beer kegs to ripen and is frequently moistened with beer while curing.
Brandy see Caledonian, Cream.
Hard; sheep; extra salty because always kept in brine.
Branja de Cosulet
Rumania
Described by Richard Wyndham in Wine and Food (Winter, 1937): A creamy sheep's cheese which is encased in pine bark. My only criticism of this most excellent cheese is that the center must always remain a gastronomical second best. It is no more interesting than a good English Cheddar, while the outer crust has a scented, resinous flavor which must be unique among cheeses.
Bratkäse
Switzerland
Strong; specially made to roast in slices over coal. Fine, grilled on toast.
Breakfast, Frühstück, Lunch, Delikat, and other
names
Germany
Soft and delicate, but with a strong tang. Small round, for spreading. Lauterbach is a well-known breakfast cheese in Germany, while in Switzerland Emmentaler is eaten at all three meals.
Breakstone
U.S.A.
Like Borden and other leading American cheesemongers and manufacturers, Breakstone offer a full line, of which their cream cheese is an American product to be proud of.
Brésegaut
Savoy, France
Soft, white.
Breslau
Germany
A proud Prussian dessert cheese.
Bressans see les Petits.
Bresse
France
Lightly cooked.
Bretagne see Montauban.
Emmentaler type.
Briançon see Alpin.
Brick see Chapter 4.
Brickbat
Wiltshire, England
A traditional Wiltshire product since early in the eighteenth century. Made with fresh milk and some cream, to ripen for one year before "it's fit to eat." The French call it Briqueton.
Bricotta
Corsica
Semisoft, sour sheep, sometimes mixed with sugar and rum and made into small luscious cakes.
Brie see Chapter 3; also see Cendré and Coulommiers.
Brie Façon
France
The name of imitation Brie or Brie type made in all parts of France. Often it is dry, chalky, and far inferior to the finest Brie véritable that is still made best in its original home, formerly called La Brie, now Seine et Marne, or Ile-de-France.
see Nivernais Decize, Le Mont d'Or, and Ile-de-France.
Brie de Meaux
France
This genuine Brie from the Meaux region has an excellent reputation for high quality. It is made only from November to May.
Brie de Melun
France
This Brie véritable is made not only in the seasonal months, from November to May, but practically all the year around. It is not always prime. Summer Brie, called Maigre, is notably poor and thin. Spring Brie is merely Migras, half-fat, as against the fat autumn Gras that ripens until May.
Brillat-Savarin
Normandy, France
Soft, and available all year. Although the author of Physiologie du Goût was not noted as a caseophile and wrote little on the subject beyond Le Fondue (see Chapter 6), this savory Normandy produce is named in his everlasting praise.
Brina Dubreala
Rumania
Semisoft, sheep, done in brine.
Brindza
U.S.A.
Our imitation of this creamy sort of fresh, white Roquefort is as popular in foreign colonies in America as back in its Hungarian and Greek homelands. On New York's East Side several stores advertise "Brindza fresh daily," with an extra "d" crowded into the original Brinza.
Brine see Italian Bra, Caucasian Ekiwani, Brina Dubreala, Briney.
Briney, or Brined
Syria
Semisoft, salty, sharp. So-called from being processed in brine. Turkish Tullum Penney is of the same salt-soaked type.
Brinza, or Brinsen
Hungary, Rumania, Carpathian Mountains
Goes by many local names: Altsohl, Klencz, Landoch, Liptauer, Neusohl, Siebenburgen and Zips. Soft, sheep milk or sheep and goat; crumbly, sharp and biting, but creamy. Made in small lots and cured in a tub with beech shavings. Ftinoporino is its opposite number in Macedonia.
Brioler see Westphalia.
Briqueton
England
The French name for English Wiltshire Brickbat, one of the very few cheeses imported into France. Known in France in the eighteenth century, it may have influenced the making of Trappist Port-Salut at the Bricquebec Monastery in Manche.
Brittle see Greek Cashera, Italian Ricotta, Turkish Rarush Durmar, and U.S. Hopi.
Brizecon
Savoy, France
Imitation Reblochon made in the same Savoy province.
Broccio, or le Brocconis
Corsica, France
Soft, sour sheep milk or goat, like Bricotta and a first cousin to Italian Chiavari. Cream white, slightly salty; eaten fresh in Paris, where it is as popular as on its home island. Sometimes salted and half-dried, or made into little cakes with rum and sugar. Made and eaten all year.
Broodkaas
Holland
Hard, flat, nutty.
Brousses de la Vézubie, les
Nice, France
Small; sheep; long narrow bar shape, served either with powdered sugar or salt, pepper and chopped chives. Made in Vézubie.
Brussels or Bruxelles
Belgium
Soft, washed skim milk, fermented, semisharp, from Louvain and Hal districts.
Budapest
Hungary
Soft, fresh, creamy and mellow, a favorite at home in Budapest and abroad in Vienna.
A specialty in Dusseldorf.
Bulle
Switzerland
A Swiss-Gruyère.
Bundost
Sweden
Semihard; mellow; tangy.
Burgundy
France
Named after the province, not the wine, but they go wonderfully together.
Bushman
Australia
Semihard; yellow; tangy.
Butter and Cheese see Chapter 8.
"Butter," Serbian see Kajmar.
Buttermilk
U.S. & Europe
Resembles cottage cheese, but of finer grain.
Cabeçou, le
Auvergne, France
Small; goat; from Maurs.
Cabrillon
Auvergne, France
So much like the Cabreçon they might be called sister nannies under the rind.
Cachet d'Entrechaux, le, or Fromage Fort du Ventoux
Provence Mountains, France
Semihard; sheep; mixed with brandy, dry white wine and sundry seasonings. Well marinated and extremely strong. Season May to November.
Caciocavallo
Italy
"Horse Cheese." The ubiquitous cheese of classical greats, imitated all around the world and back to Italy again. See Chapter 3.
Caciocavallo Siciliano
Sicily, also in U.S.A.
Essentially a pressed Provolone. Usually from cow's whole milk, but sometimes from goat's milk or a mixture of the two. Weight between 17½ and 26 pounds. Used for both table cheese and grating.
Cacio Fiore, or Caciotta
Italy
Soft as butter; sheep; in four-pound square frames; sweetish; eaten fresh.
Cacio Pecorino Romano see Pecorino.
Cacio Romano see Chiavari.
Caerphilly
Wales and England—Devon, Dorset, Somerset &
Wilshire
Semihard; whole fresh milk; takes three weeks to ripen. Also sold "green," young and innocent, at the age of ten to eleven days when weighing about that many pounds. Since it has little keeping qualities it should be eaten quickly. Welsh miners eat a lot of it, think it specially suited to their needs, because it is easily digested and does not produce so much heat in the body as long-keeping cheeses.
Caillebottes (Curds)
France—Anjou, Poitou, Saintonge &
Vendée
Soft, creamy, sweetened fresh or sour milk clabbered with chardonnette, wild artichoke seed, over slow fire. Cut in lozenges and served cold not two hours after cooking. Smooth, mellow and aromatic. A high type of this unusual cheese is Jonchée (see). Other cheeses are made with vegetable rennet, some from similar thistle or cardoon juice, especially in Portugal.
Caille de Poitiers see Petits pots.
Caille de Habas
Gascony, France
Clabbered or clotted sheep milk.
A notable goat cheese made in Cubjac.
Calabrian
Italy
The Calabrians make good sheep cheese, such as this and Caciocavallo.
Calcagno
Sicily
Hard; ewe's milk. Suitable for grating.
Caledonian Cream
Scotland
More of a dessert than a true cheese. We read in Scotland's Inner Man: "A sort of fresh cream cheese, flavored with chopped orange marmalade, sugar brandy and lemon juice. It is whisked for about half an hour. Otherwise, if put into a freezer, it would be good ice-pudding."
Calvados
France
Medium-hard; tangy. Perfect with Calvados applejack from the same province.
Calvenzano
Italy
Similar to Gorgonzola, made in Bergamo.
Cambrai see Boulette.
Cambridge, or York
England
Soft; fresh; creamy; tangy. The curd is quickly made in one hour and dipped into molds without cutting to ripen for eating in thirty hours.
Camembert see Chapter 3.
"Camembert"
Germany, U.S. & elsewhere
A West German imitation that comes in a cute little heart-shaped box which nevertheless doesn't make it any more like the Camembert véritable of Normandy.
Camosun
U.S.A.
Semisoft; open-textured, resembling Monterey. Drained curd is pressed in hoops, cheese is salted in brine for thirty hours, then coated with paraffin and cured for one to three months in humid room at 50° to 60° F.
Canadian Club
see Cheddar Club.
Cancoillotte, Cancaillotte, Canquoillotte, Quincoillotte,
Cancoiade, Fromagère, Tempête and "Purée"
de fromage tres fort
Franche-Comté, France
Soft; sour milk; sharp and aromatic; with added eggs and butter and sometimes brandy or dry white wine. Sold in attractive small molds and pots. Other sharp seasonings besides the brandy or wine make this one of the strongest of French strong cheeses, similar to Fromage Fort.
Canestrato
Sicily, Italy
Hard; mixed goat and sheep; yellow and strong. Takes one year to mature and is very popular both in Sicily where it is made to perfection and in Southern Colorado where it is imitated by and for Italian settlers.
Cantal, Fromage de Cantal, Auvergne or Auvergne Bleu;
also Fourme and La Tome.
Auvergne, France
Semihard; smooth; mellow; a kind of Cheddar, lightly colored lemon; yellow; strong, sharp taste but hardly any smell. Forty to a hundred-twenty pound cylinders. The rich milk from highland pastures is more or less skimmed and, being a very old variety, it is still made most primitively. Cured six weeks or six months, and when very old it's very hard and very sharp. A Cantal type is Laguiole or Guiole.
Capitanata
Italy
Sheep.
Caprian
Capri, Italy
Made from milk of goats that still overrun the original Goat Island, and tangy as a buck.
Caprino (Little Goat)
Argentina
Semihard; goat; sharp; table cheese.
Caraway Loaf
U.S.A.
This is just one imitation of dozens of German caraway-seeded cheeses that roam the world. In Germany there is not only Kümmel loaf cheese but a loaf of caraway-seeded bread to go with it. Milwaukee has long made a good Kümmelkäse or hand cheese and it would take more than the fingers on both hands to enumerate all of the European originals, from Dutch Komynkaas through Danish King Christian IX and Norwegian Kuminost, Italian Freisa, Pomeranian Rinnen and Belgian Leyden, to Pennsylvania Pot.
Cardiga, Queijo da
Portugal
Hard; sheep; oily; mild flavor. Named from cardo, cardoon in English, a kind of thistle used as a vegetable rennet in making several other cheeses, such as French Caillebottes curdled with chardonnette, wild artichoke seed. Only classical Greek sheep cheeses like Casera can compare with the superb ones from the Portuguese mountain districts. They are lusciously oily, but never rancidly so.
Carlsbad
Bohemia
Semihard; sheep; white; slightly salted; expensive.
Carré Affiné
France
Soft, delicate, in small square forms; similar to Petit Carré and Ancien Impérial (see).
Carré de l'Est
France
Similar to Camembert, and imitated in the U.S.A.
Cascaval Penir
Turkey
Cacciocavallo imitation consumed at home.
Semisoft; sheep; mellow; creamy.
Casere
Greece
Hard; sheep; brittle; gray and greasy. But wonderful! Sour-sweet tongue tickle. This classical though greasy Grecian is imitated with goat milk instead of sheep in Southern California.
Cashera
Armenia and Greece
Hard; goat or cow's milk; brittle; sharp; nutty. Similar to Casere and high in quality.
Cashera
Turkey
Semihard; sheep.
Casher Penner see Kasher.
Cashkavallo
Syria
Mellow but sharp imitation of the ubiquitous Italian Cacciocavallo.
Casigiolu, Panedda, Pera di vacca
Sardinia
Plastic-curd cheese, made by the Caciocavallo method.
Caskcaval or Kaschcavallo see Feta.
Caspian
Caucasus
Semihard. Sheep or cow, milked directly into cone-shaped cloth bag to speed the making. Tastes tangy, sharp and biting.
Cassaro
Italy
Locally consumed, seldom exported.
Castelmagno
Italy
Blue-mold, Gorgonzola type.
Castelo Branco, White Castle
Portugal
Semisoft; goat or goat and sheep; fermented. Similar to Serra da Estrella (see).
Castillon, or Fromage de
Gascony
France
Fresh cream cheese.
Castle, Schlosskäse
North Austria
Limburger type.
Catanzaro
Italy
Consumed locally, seldom exported.
Cat's Head see Katzenkopf.
Celery
Norway
Flavored mildly with celery seeds, instead of the usual caraway.
Cendrée, la
France—Orléanais, Blois & Aube
Hard; sheep; round and flat. Other Cendrées are Champenois or Ricey, Brie, d'Aizy and Olivet
Cendré d'Aizy
Burgundy, France
Available all year. See la Cendrée.
Cendré de la Brie
Ile-de-France, France
Fall and winter Brie cured under the ashes, season September to May.
Cendré Champenois or Cendré des
Riceys
Aube & Marne, France
Made and eaten from September to June, and ripened under the ashes.
Cendré Olivet see Olivet.
Cenis see Mont Cenis.
Certoso Stracchino
Italy, near Milan
A variety of Stracchino named after the Carthusian friars who have made it for donkey's years. It is milder and softer and creamier than the Taleggio because it's made of cow instead of goat milk, but it has less distinction for the same reason.
Soft veteran of Roman times named from its town near Turin.
Chabichou
Poitou, France
Soft; goat; fresh; sweet and tasty. A vintage cheese of the months from April to December, since such cheeses don't last long enough to be vintaged like wine by the year.
Chaingy
Orléans, France
Season September to June.
Cham
Switzerland
One of those eminent Emmentalers from Cham, the home town of Mister Pfister (see Pfister).
Chamois milk
Aristotle said that the most savorous cheese came from the chamois. This small goatlike antelope feeds on wild mountain herbs not available to lumbering cows, less agile sheep or domesticated mountain goats, so it gives, in small quantity but high quality, the richest, most flavorsome of milk.
Champenois or Fromage des Riceys
Aube & Marne, France
Season from September to June. The same as Cendré Champenois and des Riceys.
Champoléon de Queyras
Hautes-Alpes, France.
Hard; skim-milker.
Chantelle
U.S.A.
Natural Port du Salut type described as "zesty" by some of the best purveyors of domestic cheeses. It has a sharp taste and little odor, perhaps to fill the demand for a "married man's Limburger."
Chantilly see Hablé.
Soft, nice to nibble with the bottled product of this same high-living Champagne Province. A kind of Camembert.
Chapelle
France
Soft.
Charmey Fine
Switzerland
Gruyère type.
Chaschol, or Chaschosis
Canton of Grisons, Switzerland
Hard; skim; small wheels, eighteen to twenty-two inches in diameter by three to four inches high, weight twenty-two to forty pounds.
Chasteaux see Petits Fromages.
Chateauroux see Fromage de Chèvre.
Chaumont
Champagne, France
Season November to May.
Chavignol see Crottin.
Chechaluk
Armenia
Soft; pot; flaky; creamy.
Cheddar see Chapter 3.
Cheese bread
Russia and U.S.A.
For centuries Russia has excelled in making a salubrious cheese bread called Notruschki and the cheese that flavors it is Tworog. (See both.) Only recently Schrafft's in New York put out a yellow, soft and toothsome cheese bread that has become very popular for toasting. It takes heat to bring out its full cheesy savor. Good when overlaid with cheese butter of contrasting piquance, say one mixed with Sapsago.
Equal parts of creamed butter and finely grated or soft cheese and mixtures thereof. The imported but still cheap green Sapsago is not to be forgotten when mixing your own cheese butter.
Cheese food
U.S.A.
"Any mixtures of various lots of cheese and other solids derived from milk with emulsifying agents, coloring matter, seasonings, condiments, relishes and water, heated or not, into a homogeneous mass." (A long and kind word for a homely, tasteless, heterogeneous mess.) From an advertisement.
Cheese hoppers see Hoppers.
Cheese mites see Mites.
Cheshire and Cheshire imitations see with Cheddar in Chapter 3.
Cheshire-Stilton
England
In making this combination of Cheshire and Stilton, the blue mold peculiar to Stilton is introduced in the usual Cheshire process by keeping out each day a little of the curd and mixing it with that in which the mold is growing well. The result is the Cheshire in size and shape and general characteristics but with the blue veins of Stilton, making it really a Blue Cheddar. Another combination is Yorkshire-Stilton, and quite as distinguished.
Chester
England
Another name for Cheshire, used in France where formerly some was imported to make the visiting Britishers feel at home.