The Complete Book of Cheese

Aromatic with caraway, brought from Germany by early emigrants and successfully imitated.

Minas
Brazil

Name for the Brazilian state of Minas Geraes, where it is made. Semihard; white; round two-pounder; often chalky. The two best brands are one called Primavera, Spring, and another put out by the Swiss professors who teach the art at the Agricultural University in the State Capital, Bello Horizonte.

Minnesota Blue
U.S.A.

A good national product known from coast to coast. Besides Blue, Minnesota makes good all-American Brick and Cheddar, natural nationals to be proud of.

Mintzitra
in Macedonia; and
Mitzithra
in Greece

Sheep; soft; succulent; and as pleasantly greasy as other sheep cheeses from Greece. It's a by-product of the fabulous Feta.

Modena, Monte
U.S.A.

Made in U.S.A. during World War II. Parmesan-type.

Mohawk Limburger Spread
U.S.A.

A brand that comes in one-pound jars.

Moliterno
Italy

Similar to Caciocavallo. (See.)

Monceau
Champagne, France

Semihard, similar to Maroilles.

Moncenisio
Italy

Similar to Gorgonzola.

This little family with a lot of long names is closely related to the Münster tribe, with very distant connections with the mildest branch of the Limburgers.

The Schachtelkäse is named from the wooden boxes in which it is shipped, while the Schlosskäse shows its class by being called Castle Cheese, probably because it is richer than the others, being made of whole milk.

Money made of cheese
China

In the Chase National Bank collection of moneys of the world there is a specimen of "Cheese money" about which the curator, Farran Zerbee, writes: "A specimen of the so-called 'cheese money' of Northern China, 1850-70, now in the Chase Bank collection, came to me personally some thirty years ago from a woman missionary, who had been located in the field where she said a cake form of condensed milk, and referred to as 'cheese,' was a medium of exchange among the natives. It, like other commodities, particularly compressed tea, was prized as a trading medium in China, in that it had value as nutriment and was sufficiently appreciated by the population as to be exchangeable for other articles of service."

Monk's Head see Tête de Moine.

Monostorer
Transylvania, Rumania

Ewe's milk.

Monsieur
France

Soft; salted; rich in flavor.

Montana
Catalonia

A mountain cheese.

Montasio
Austria and Italy

Usually skimmed goat and cow milk mixed. When finished, the rind is often rubbed with olive oil or blackened with soot. It is eaten both fresh, white and sweet, and aged, when it is yellow, granular and sharp, with a characteristic flavor. Mostly used when three to twelve months old, but kept much longer and grated for seasoning. Widely imitated in America.

Montauban de Bretagne, Fromage de
Brittany, France

A celebrated cheese of Brittany.

Montavoner
Austria

Sour and sometimes sweet milk, made tasty with dried herbs of the Achittea family.

Mont Blanc
France

An Alpine cheese.

Mont Cenis
Southeastern France Usually made of all three available milks, cow, goat and sheep; it is semi-hard and blue-veined like the other Roquefort imitations, Gex and Septmoncel. Primitive methods are still used in the making and sometimes the ripening is done by penicillium introduced in moldy bread. Large rounds, eighteen by six to eight inches, weighing twenty-five pounds.

Mont-des-Cats
French Flanders

Trappist monk-made Port-Salut.

A fresh cream.

Mont d'or, le, or Mont Dore
Lyonnais, France

Soft; whole milk; originally goat, now cow; made throughout the Rhone Valley. Fat, golden-yellow and "relished by financiers" according to Victor Meusy. Between Brie and Pont l'Evêque but more delicate than either, though not effeminate. Alpin and Riola are similar. The best is still turned out at Mont d'Or, with runners-up in St. Cyr and St. Didier.

Montavoner
Austria

A sour-milker made fragrant with herbs added to the curd.

Monterey
Mexico

Hard; sharp; perhaps inspired by Montery Jack that's made in California and along the Mexican border.

In his book about French varieties, Les Fromages, Maurice des Ombiaux sums up the many exotic milks made into cheese and recounts the story of Paul Bert, who served a cheese "white as snow" that was so delicately appetizing it was partaken of in "religious silence." All the guests guessed, but none was right. So the host announced it was made of "lait de femme" and an astounded turophile exclaimed, "Then all of us are cannibals."

Mountain
Bavaria

Soft; yellow; sharp.

Mountain, Azuldoch see Azuldoch.

Mount Hope
U.S.A.

Yellow; mellow; mild and porous California Cheddar.

Mouse or Mouse Trap
U.S.A.

Common name for young, green, cracked, leathery or rubbery low-grade store cheese fit only to bait traps. When it's aged and sharp, however, the same cheese can be bait for caseophiles.

Mozzarella
Italy

Soft; water-buffalo milk; moistly fresh and unripened; bland, white cooking cheese put up in balls or big bowl-like cups weighing about a half pound and protected with wax paper. The genuine is made at Cardito, Aversa, Salernitano and in the Mazzoni di Capua. Like Ricotta, this is such a popular cheese all over America that it is imitated widely, and often badly, with a bitter taste.

Mozzarella-Affumicata, also called Scamozza
Italy

Semisoft; smooth; white; bland; un-salted. Put up in pear shapes of about one pound, with tan rind, from smoking.

Mozzarinelli
Italy

A pet name for a diminutive edition of Mozzarella.

Mrsav see Sir Posny.

Münster
Germany

German originally, now made from Colmar, Strassburg and Copenhagen to Milwaukee in all sorts of imitations, both good and bad. Semihard; whole milk; yellow inside, brick-red outside; flavor from mild to strong, depending on age and amount of caraway or anise seed added. Best in winter season, from November to April.

Münster is a world-wide classic that doubles for both German and French. Géromé is a standard French type of it, with a little longer season, beginning in April, and a somewhat different flavor from anise seed. Often, instead of putting the seeds inside, a dish of caraway is served with the cheese for those who like to flavor to taste.

In Alsace, Münster is made plain and also under the name of Münster au Cumin because of the caraway.

American imitations are much milder and marketed much younger. They are supposed to blend the taste of Brick and Limburger; maybe they do.

Mustard
U.S.A.

A processed domestic, Gruyère type.

Imitated with goat's milk in Southern Colorado.

Mysost, Mytost
Scandinavia

Made in all Scandinavian countries and imitated in the U.S.A. A whey cheese, buttery, mild and sweetish with a caramel color all through, instead of the heavy chocolate or dark tobacco shade of Gjetost. Frimost is a local name for it. The American imitations are cylindrical and wrapped in tin foil.

Nagelkassa (Fresh), Fresh Clove Cheese, called Nageles in Holland
Austria

Skim milk; curd mixed with caraway and cloves called nails, nagel, in Germany and Austria. The large flat rounds resemble English Derby.

Nantais, or Fromage du Curé, Cheese of the Curate
Brittany, France

A special variety dedicated to some curate of Nantes.

Nessel
England

Soft; whole milk; round and very thin.

Neufchâtel, or Petit Suisse
Normandy, France

In season from October to May.

Noekkelost or Nögelost
Norway

Similar to spiced Leyden or Edam with caraway, and shaped like a Gouda.

Nordlands-Ost "Kalas"
U.S.A.

Trade name for an American imitation of a Scandinavian variety, perhaps suggested by Swedish Nordost.

Nordost
Sweden

Semisoft; white; baked; salty and smoky.

North Wilts
Wiltshire, England

Cheddar type; smooth; hard rind; rich but delicate in flavor. Small size, ten to twelve pounds; named for its locale.

Nostrale
Northwest Italy

An ancient-of-days variety of which there are two kinds:
I. Formaggio Duro: hard, as its name says, made in the spring
when the cows are in the valley.
II. Formaggio Tenero: soft and richer, summer-made with milk
from lush mountain-grazing.

Notruschki (cheese bread)
Russia

Made with Tworog cheese and widely popular.

Nova Scotia Smoked
U.S.A.

The name must mean that the cheese was smoked in the Nova Scotia manner, for it is smoked mostly in New York City, like sturgeon, to give the luxurious flavor.

Nuworld
U.S.A.

A cheese all America can be proud of, whether it is an entirely new species or not.

Oaxaca see Asadero.

Oka, or La Trappe
Canada

Medium soft; aromatic; the Port-Salut made by Trappist monks in Canada after the secret method of the order that originated in France. See Trappe.

Old English Club
U.S.A.

Not old, not English, and representing no club we know of.

Old Heidelberg
U.S.A.

Soft, piquant rival of Liederkranz.

Oléron Isle, Fromage d'Ile
France

A celebrated sheep cheese from this island of Oléron.

Olive Cream
U.S.A.

Ground olives mixed to taste with cream cheese. Olives rival pimientos for such mildly piquant blends that just suit the bland American taste. A more exciting olive cream may be made with Greek Calatma olives and Feta sheep cheese.

Olivet
Orléans, France

Soft sheep cheese sold in three forms:
I. Fresh; summer, white; cream cheese.
II. Olivet-Bleu—mold inoculated; half-ripened.
III. Olivet-Cendré, ripened in the ashes. Season, October to June.

Soft; skim milk-soured; salty. The smallest of hand cheeses, only ½ of an inch thick by 1½ inches in diameter. Packed in kegs to ripen into beer cheese and keep the liquid contents of other kegs company. A dozen of these little ones are packed together in a box ready to drop into wine or beer drinks at home or at the bar.

Oloron, or Fromage de la Vallee d'ossour
Béarn, France

In season from October to May.

Onion with garlic links
U.S.A

Processed and put up like frankfurters, in links.

Oporto
Portugal

Hard; sharp; tangy. From the home town of port wine.

Orkney
Scotland

A country cheese of the Orkney Islands where it is buried in the oat bin to ripen, and kept there between meals as well. Oatmeal and Scotch country cheese are natural affinities. Southey, Johnson and Boswell have all remarked the fine savor of such cheese with oatcakes.

Orléans
France

Named after the Orléans district Soft; creamy; tangy.

Ossetin, Tuschninsk, or Kasach
Caucasus

Comes in two forms:
I. Soft and mild sheep or cow cheese ripened in brine for two months.
II. Hard, after ripening a year and more in brine. The type made of
sheep milk is the better.

Ostiepek, Oschtjepek, Oschtjpeka
Czechoslovakia

Sheep in the Carpathian Mountains supply the herb-rich milk for this type, similar to Italian Caciocavallo.

New York State Cheddar of distinction.

Oude Kaas
Belgium

Popular in France as Boule de Lille.

Oust, Fromage de
Roussillon, France

Of the Camembert family.

Ovár
Hungarian

Semisoft to semihard, reddish-brown rind, reddish-yellow inside. Mild but pleasantly piquant It has been called Hungarian Tilsit.

Oveji Sir
Yugoslavian Alpine

Hard, mountain-sheep cheese of quality Cellar-ripened three months. Weight six to ten pounds.

Oxfordshire
England

An obsolescent type, now only of literary interest because of Jonathan Swift's little story around it, in the eighteenth century:

Pabstett
U.S.A

Packet cheese
England

This corresponds to our process cheese and is named from the package or packet it comes in.

Paglia
Switzerland

Italian-influenced Canton of Ticino. Soft. A copy of Gorgonzola. A Blue with a pleasant, aromatic flavor, and of further interest because in Switzerland, the motherland of cheese, it is an imitation of a foreign type.

Pago
Dalmatia, Yugoslavia

A sheep-milk specialty made on the island of Pago in Dalmatia, in weights from ½ to eight pounds.

Paladru
Savoy, France

In season from November to May.

Palpuszta
Hungary

Fairly strong Limburger type.

Pannarone
Italy

Gorgonzola type with white curd but without blue veining.

Parenica
Hungary

Sheep. Caciocavallo type.

Parmesan, Parmigiano
Italy

The grand mogul of all graters. Called "The hardest cheese in the world." It enlivens every course from onion soup to cheese straws with the demitasse, and puts spirit into the sparse Lenten menu as Pasta al Pesto, powdered Parmesan, garlic, olive oil and basil, pounded in a mortar with a pestle.

Noted Bavarian cream cheese, known in France as Crème de Passau.

Pasta Cotta
Italy

The ball or grana of curd used in making Parmesan.

Pasta Filata
Italy

A "drawn" curd, the opposite of the little balls or grains into which Grana is chopped.(See Formaggi di Pasta Filata.)

Pasteurized Process Cheese Food
U.S.A.

This is the ultimate desecration of natural fermented cheese. Had Pasteur but known what eventual harm his discovery would do to a world of cheese, he might have stayed his hand.

Pastorella
Italy

Soft, rich table cheese.

Patagras
Cuba

Similar to Gouda.

Pecorino
Italy

Italian cheese made from ewe's milk. Salted in brine. Granular.

Pelardon de Rioms
Languedoc, France

A goat cheese in season from May to November.

Peneteleu
Rumania

One of the international Caciocavallo family.

Penicillium Glaucum and Penicillium Album

Tiny mushroom spores of Penicillium Glaucum sprinkled in the curd destined to become Roquefort, sprout and grow into "blue" veins that impart the characteristic flavor. In twelve to fifteen days a second spore develops on the surface, snow-white Penicillium Album.

Pennich
Turkey

Mellow sheep cheese packed in the skin of sheep or lamb.

This German original has been made by the Pennsylvania Dutch ever since they arrived from the old country. Also Pennsylvania pot, or cooked.

Penroque
Pennsylvania, U.S.A

Cow milk imitation Roquefort, inoculated with Penicillium Roqueforti and ripened in "caverns where nature has duplicated the ideal condition of the cheese-curing caverns of France." So any failure of Penroque to rival real Roquefort is more likely to be the fault of mother cow than mother nature.

Pepato
Italy

Hard; stinging, with whole black peppers that make the lips burn. Fine for fire-eaters.

An American imitation is made in Northern Michigan.

Persillé de Savoie
Savoie, France

In season from May to January, flavored with parsley in a manner similar to that of sage in Vermont Cheddar.

Petafina, La
Dauphiné, France

Goat or cow milk mixed together, with yeast of dried cheese added, plus salt and pepper, olive oil, brandy and absinthe.

Petit Carré
France

Fresh, unripened Ancien Impérial.

Petit Gruyère
Denmark

Imitation Gruyère, pasteurized, processed and made almost unrecognizable and inedible. Six tin-foil wedges to a box; also packaged with a couple of crackers for bars, one wedge for fifteen cents, where free lunch is forbidden. This is a fair sample of one of several foreign imitations that are actually worse than we can do at home.

A pet name for Coulommiers.

Petit Suisse
France

Fresh, unsalted cream cheese. The same as Neufchâtel and similar to Coulommiers. It comes in two sizes:
Gros—a largest cylinder
Demi—a small one

Keats called this "the creamy curd," and another writer has praised its "La Fontaine-like simplicity." Whether made in Normandy, Switzerland, or Petropolis, Brazil, by early Swiss settlers, it is ideal with honey.

Petit Vacher
France

"Little Cowboy," an appropriate name for a small cow's-milk cheese.

Petits Bourgognes
Lower Burgundy, France

Soft; sheep; white, small, tangy. Other notable Petits also beginning with B are Banons and Bressans.

Petits Fromages de Chasteaux, les
France

Small, sheep cream cheeses from Lower Limousin.

Petits Fromages de Chèvre
France

Little cheeses from little goats grazing on the little mountains of Provence.

Petits Pots de Caillé de Poitiers
Poitou, France

Clotted milk in small pots.

Pfister
Cham, Switzerland

Emmentaler type, although differing in its method of making with fresh skim milk. It is named for Pfister Huber who was the first to manufacture it, in Chain.

Philadelphia Cream
U.S.A.

An excellent cream cheese that has been standard for seventy years. Made in New York State in spite of its name.

Handy-size picnic packing of mild American Cheddar. Swiss has long been called picnic cheese in America, its home away from home.

Picodon de Dieule Fit
Dauphiné, France

In season from May to December.

Pie, Fromage à la
France

Another name for Fromage Blanc or Farm; soft, creamy cottage-cheese type.

Pie Cheese
U.S.A

An apt American name for any round store cheese that can be cut in wedges like a pie. Perfect with apple or mince or any other pie. And by the way, in these days when natural cheese is getting harder to find, any piece of American Cheddar cut in pie wedges before being wrapped in cellophane is apt to be the real thing—if it has the rind on. The wedge shape is used, however, without any rind, to make processed pastes pass for "natural" even without that identifying word, and with misleading labels such as old, sharp Cheddar and "aged nine months." That's long enough to make a baby, but not a "natural" out of a processed "Cheddar."

Pimiento
U.S.A.

Because pimiento is the blandest of peppers, it just suits our bland national taste, especially when mixed with Neufchâtel, cream, club or cottage. The best is homemade, of course, with honest, snappy old Cheddar mashed and mixed to taste, with the mild Spanish pepper that equals the Spanish olive as a partner in such spreads.

Pimp see Mainzer Hand Cheese.

Whole milk, either cow's or a mixture of goat's and cow's.

Pippen
U.S.A.

Borden brand of Cheddar. Also Pippen Roll

Pithiviers au Foin
France

Orléans variety ripened on hay from October to May.

Poitiers
France

Goat's milker named from its Poitou district.

Pommel
France

All year. Double cream; unsalted.

Ponta Delgada
Azores

Semifirm; delicate; piquant

Pontgibaud
France

Similar to Roquefort Ripened at a very low temperature.

Pont l'Evêque

Potato
Germany and U.S.A.

Made in Thuringia from sour cow milk with sheep or goat sometimes added. "The potatoes are boiled and grated or mashed. One part of the potato is thoroughly mixed or kneaded with two or three parts of die curd. In the better cheese three parts of potatoes are mixed with two of curd. During the mixing, salt and sometimes caraway seed are added. The cheese is allowed to stand for from two to four days while a fermentation takes place. After this the curd is sometimes covered with beer or cream and is finally placed in tubs and allowed to ripen for fourteen days. A variety of this cheese is made in the U.S. It is probable, however, that it is not allowed to ripen for quite so long a period as the potato cheese of Europe. In all other essentials it appears to be the same." From U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 608.

Potato Pepper
Italy

Italian Potato cheese is enlivened with black pepper, like Pepato, only not so stony hard.

Pots de Crème St. Gervais
St. Gervais-sur-mer, France

The celebrated cream that rivals English Devonshire and is eaten both as a sweet and as a fresh cheese.

Pouligny-St. Pierre
Touraine, France

A celebrated cylindrical cheese made in Indre. Season from May to December.

Poustagnax, le
France

A fresh cow-milk cheese of Gascony.

Semihard, very yellow imitation of the Argentine imitation of Holland Dutch. Standard Brazilian dessert with guava or quince paste. Named not from "dish" but the River Plate district of the Argentine from whence it was borrowed long ago.

Prattigau
Switzerland

Aromatic and sharp, Limburger type, from skim milk. Named for its home valley.

Prestost or Saaland Flarr
Sweden

Similar to Gouda, but unique—the curd being mixed with whiskey, packed in a basket, salted and cellared, wrapped in a cloth changed daily; and on the third day finally washed with whiskey.

Primavera, Spring
Minas Geraes, Brazil

Semihard white brand of Minas cheese high quality, with a springlike fragrance.

Primost
Norway

Soft; whey; unripened; light brown; mild flavor.

Primula
Norway

A blend of French Brie and Petit Gruyère, mild table cheese imitate in Norway, sold in small packages. Danish Appetitost is similar, but with caraway added.

Processed
U.S.A.

From here around the world. Natural cheese melted and modified by emulsification with a harmless agent and thus changed into a plastic mass.

Promessi
Italy

Small soft-cream cheese.

Provatura
Italy

A water-buffalo variety. This type of milk makes a good beginning for a fine cheese, no matter how it is made.

Port-Salut from the Trappist monastery at Briquebec.

Provole, Provolone, Provolocine, Provoloncinni, Provoletti, and Provolino
Italy

All are types, shapes and sizes of Italy's most widely known and appreciated cheese. It is almost as widely but badly imitated in the U.S.A., where the final "e" and "i" are interchangeable.

Cured in string nets that stay on permanently to hang decoratively in the home kitchen or dining room. Like straw Chianti bottles, Provolones weigh from bocconi (mouthful), about one pound, to two to four pounds. There are three-to five-pound Provoletti, and upward with huge Salamis and Giants. Small ones come ball, pear, apple, and all sorts of decorative shapes, big ones become monumental sculptures that are works of art to compare with butter and soap modeling.

P'teux, le, or Fromage Cuit
Lorraine, France

Cooked cheese worked with white wine instead of milk, and potted.

Puant Macere
Flanders

"The most candidly named cheese in existence." In season from November to June.

Pultost or Knaost
Norway

Sour milk with some buttermilk, farm made in mountains.

Pusztador
Hungary

Semihard, Limburger-Romadur type. Full flavor, high scent.

Pyrenees, Fromage des
France

A fine mountain variety.

Quartiolo
Italy

Term used to distinguish Parmesan-type cheese made between September and November.

Quacheq
Macedonia, Greece

Sheep, eaten both fresh and ripened.

Quargel see Olmützer.

Quartirolo
Italy

Soft, cow's milk.

Queijos—Cheeses of the Azores, Brazil and Portugal see under their local or regional names: Alemtejo, Azeitão, Cardiga, Ilha, Prato and Serra da Estrella.

Queso Anejo
Mexico

White, dry, skim milk.

Queso de Bola
Mexico

Whole milk, similar to Edam.

Queso de Cavallo
Venezuela

Pear-shaped cheese.

Quesos Cheeses: Blanco, Cartera and Palma Metida see Venezuela.

Queso de Cincho
Venezuela

Hard, round orange balls weighing four pounds and wrapped in palm leaves.

Queso de Crema
Costa Rica

Similar to soft Brick.

Queso de Hoja, Leaf Cheese
Puerto Rico

Named from its appearance when cut, like leaves piled on top of each other.

Aromatic, sharp, in four-ounce packages.

Queso del Fais, Queso de la Tierra
Puerto Rico

White; pressed; semisoft Consumed locally,

Queso de Prensa
Puerto Rico

The name means pressed cheese. It is eaten either fresh or after ripening two or three months.

Queso de Puna
Puerto Rico

Like U.S. cottage or Dutch cheese, eaten fresh.

Queso de Tapara
Venezuela

Made in Carora, near Barqisimeto, called tapara from the shape and tough skin of that local gourd. "It is very good fresh, but by the time it arrives in Carora it is often bad and dry." D.K.K. in Bueno Provecho.

Queso Fresco
El Salvador

Cottage-cheese type.

Rabaçal
Coimbra, Portugal

Semisoft; sheep or goat; thick, round, four to five inches in diameter. Pleasantly oily, if made from sheep milk.

Rabbit Cheese
U.S.A.

A playful name for Cheddar two to three years old.

Radener
Germany

Hard; skim, similar to Emmentaler; made in Mecklenburg. Sixteen by four inches, weight 32 pounds.

Similar to Münster.

Ragnit see Tilsit.

Rahmkäse, Allgäuer
German

Cream.

Rainbow
Mexico

Mild; mellow.

Ramadoux
Belgium

Soft; sweet cream; formed in cubes. Similar to Hervé

Rammil or Rammel
England

André Simon calls this "the best cheese made in Dorsetshire." Also called Rammilk, because made from whole or "raw milk." Practically unobtainable today.

Rangiport
France

A good imitation of Port-Salut made in Seine-et-Oise.

Rarush Durmar
Turkey

Brittle; mellow; nutty.

Rächerkäse

The name for all smoked cheese in Germanic countries, where it is very popular.

Raviggiolo
Tuscany, Italy

Ewe's milk. Uncooked; soft; sweet; creamy.

Rayon or Raper
Switzerland

A blind Emmentaler called Rayon is shipped young to Italy, where it is hardened by aging and then sold as Raper, for grating and seasoning.

Reblochon or Roblochon
Savoy

Sheep; soft; whole milk; in season from October to June. Weight one to two pounds. A cooked cheese imitated as Brizecon in the same section.

A harvest variety similar to Géromé, made from October to April

Red
Russia

see Livlander.

Red Balls
Dutch

see Edam.

Reggiano see Grana.

Regianito
Argentine

Italian Reggiano type with a name of its own, for it is not a mere imitation in this land of rich milk and extra fine cheeses.

Reichkäse
German

Patriotically hailed as cheese of the empire, when Germany had one.

Reindeer
Lapland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway

In all far northern lands a type of Swiss is made from reindeer milk It is lightly salted, very hard; and the Lapland production is curiously formed, like a dumbbell with angular instead of round ends.

Relish cream cheese
U.S.A.

Mixed with any piquant relish and eaten fresh.

Remoudon, or Fromage Piquant
Belgium

The two names combine in re-ground piquant cheese, and that's what it is. The season is winter, from November to June.

Requeijão
Portugal and Brazil

Recooked.

Resurrection see Welsh.

Rhubarbe
France

A type of Roquefort which, in spite of its name, is no relation to our pie plant.

Ricotta Romano
Italy

Soft and fresh. The best is made from sheep buttermilk. Creamy, piquant, with subtle fragrance. Eaten with sugar and cinnamon, sometimes with a dusting of powdered coffee.

Ricotta
Italy and U.S.A.

Fresh, moist, unsalted cottage cheese for sandwiches, salads, lasagne, blintzes and many Italian dishes. It is also mixed with Marsala and rum and relished for dessert Ricotta may be had in every Little Italy, some of it very well made and, unfortunately, some of it a poor substitute whey cheese.

Ricotta Salata

Hard; grayish white. Although its flavor is milk it is too hard and too salty for eating as is, and is mostly used for grating.

Riesengebirge
Bohemia

Semisoft; goat or cow; delicate flavor, lightly smoked in Bohemia's northern mountains.

Rinnen
Germany

This traditional Pomeranian sour-milk, caraway-seeded variety is named from the wooden trough in which it is laid to drain.

Riola
Normandy, France

Soft; sheep or goat; sharp; resembles Mont d'Or but takes longer to ripen, two to three months.

Robbiole
Robbiola
Robbiolini
Lombardy
Italian

Very similar to Crescenza (see.) Alpine winter cheese of fine quality. The form is circular and flat, weighing from eight ounces to two pounds, while Robbiolini, the baby of the family tips the scale at just under four ounces.

Same as Reblochon. A delicious form of it is made of half-dried sheep's milk in Le Grand Bornand.

Rocamadur
Limousin, France

Tiny sheep milk cheese weighing two ounces. In season November to May.

Rocroi
France

From the Champagne district.

Rokadur
Yugoslavia

Imitation Roquefort.

Roll
England

Hard cylinder, eight by nine inches, weighing twenty pounds.

Rollot or Rigolot
Picardy and Montdidier, France

Soft; fermented; mold-inoculated; resembles Brie and Camembert, but much smaller. In season October to May. This is Picardy's one and only cheese.

Roma
Italy

Soft cream.

Romadour, Romadura, and other national spellings
Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland

A great Linburger. The eating season is from November to April. It is not a summer cheese, especially in lands where refrigeration is scarce. Fine brands are exported to America from several countries.

Romano, Romano Vacchino
Italy

Strong: flavoring cheese like Parmesan and Pecorino.

Romanello
U.S.A.

Similar to Romano Vacchino and Old Monterey Jack. Small grating cheese, cured one year.

Roquefort
France

Made with genuine imported Roquefort, but with cottonseed oil instead of olive, plain instead of wine vinegar, sugar, salt, paprika, mustard, flour and spice oil.

Roquefort de Corse
Corsica, France

This Corsican imitation is blue-colored and correctly made of sheep milk, but lacks the chalk caves of Auvergne for ripening.

Roquefort de Tournemire
France

Another Blue cheese of sheep milk from Languedoc, using the royal Roquefort name.

Rougerets, les
Lyonnais, France

A typical small goat cheese from Forez, in a section where practically every variety is made with goat milk.

Rouennais
France

This specialty, named after its city, Rouen, is a winter cheese, eaten from October to May.

Round Dutch
Holland

An early name for Edam.

Rouy, le
Normandy, France

From the greatest of the cheese provinces, Normandy.

Royal Brabant
Belgium

Whole milk. Small, Limburger type.

Royal Sentry
Denmark

Processed Swiss made in Denmark and shipped to Americans who haven't yet learned that a European imitation can be as bad as an American one. This particular pasteurized process-cheese spread puts its ingredients in finer type than any accident insurance policy: Samsoe (Danish Swiss) cheese, cream, water, non-fat dry milk solids, cheese whey solids and disodium phosphate.

Ruffec, Fromage de
Saintonge, France

Fresh; goat.

Similar to Herrgårdsost. Small eyes. "Wheel" weighs about three pounds. Wrapped in red transparent film.

Rush Cream Cheese
England and France

Not named from the rush in which many of our cheeses are made, but from the rush mats and nets some fresh cream cheeses are wrapped and sewed up in to ripen. According to an old English recipe the curds are collected with an ordinary fish-slice and placed in a rush shape, covered with a cloth when filled. Lay a half-pound weight in a saucer and set this on top of the strained curd for a few hours, and then increase the weight by about a half pound. Change the cloths daily until the cheese looks mellow, then put into the rush shape with the fish slice. The formula in use in France, where willow heart-shape baskets are sold for making this cheese, is as follows: Add one cup new warm milk to two cups freshly-skimmed cream. Dissolve in this one teaspoon of fine sugar and one tablespoon common rennet or thirty drops of Hauser's extract of rennet. Let it remain in a warm place until curd sets. Rush and straw mats are easily made by cutting the straw into lengths and stringing them with a needle and thread. The mats or baskets should not be used a second time.

Saaland Pfarr, or Prestost
Sweden

Firm; sharp; biting; unique of its kind because it is made with whiskey as an ingredient and the finished product is also washed with whiskey.

Semihard and as mellow as all good Swiss cheese. This is the finest cheese in the greatest cheese land; an Emmentaler also known as Hartkäse, Reibkäse and Walliskäse, it came to fame in the sixteenth century and has always fetched an extra price for its quality and age. It is cooked much dryer in the making, so it takes longer to ripen and then keeps longer than any other. It weighs only ten to twenty pounds and the eyes are small and scarce. The average period needed for ripening is six years, but some take nine.

Sage, or Green cheese
England

Semihard; blue; goat; mellow; small; square; a quarter to a half pound. The curd is kept five to six hours only before salting and is then eaten fresh or put away to ripen.

Saint-Cyr see Mont d'Or.

Saint-Didier au Mont d'Or see Mont d'Or.

Saint-Florentin
Burgundy, France

A lusty cheese, soft but salty, in season from November to July.

Saint-Flour
Auvergne, France

Another seasonal specialty from this province of many cheeses.

Saint-Gelay
Poitou, France

Made from goat's milk.

Saint-Gervais, Pots de Creme, or Le Saint Gervais
see Pots de Crème.

Saint-Heray see La Mothe.

Saint-Honoré
Nivernais, France

A small goat cheese.

Saint-Hubert
France

Similar to Brie.

Saint-Ivel
England

Fresh dairy cream cheese containing Lactobacillus acidophilus. Similar to the yogurt cheese of the U.S.A., which is made with Bacillus Bulgaricus.

Saint-Laurent
Roussillon, France

Mountain sheep cheese.

Saint-Lizier
Béarn, France

A white, curd cheese.

Half-goat, half-cow milk, in season February to September

Saint-Marcellin
Dauphiné, France

One of the very best of all goat cheeses. Three by ¾ inches, weighing a quarter of a pound. In season from March to December. Sometimes sheep milk may be added, even cow's, but this is essentially a goat cheese.

Saint-Moritz
Switzerland

Soft and tangy.

Saint-Nectaire, or Senecterre
Auvergne, France

Noted as one of the greatest of all French goat cheeses.

Made in Touraine from May to November. Similar to Valençay.

Salamana
Southern Europe

Soft sheep's milk cheese stuffed into bladderlike sausage, to ripen. It has authority and flavor when ready to spread on bread, or to mix with cornmeal and cook into a highly cheese-flavored porridge.

Salame
France

Soft cream cheese stuffed into skins like salami sausages. Salami-sausage style of packing cheese has always been common in Italy, from Provolone down, and now—both as salami and links—it has became extremely popular for processed and cheese foods throughout America.

Salers, Bleu de
France

One of the very good French Blues.

Saligny
Champagne, France

White cheese made from sheep's milk.

Saloio
Lisbon, Portugal

An aromatic farm-made hand cheese of skim milk. Short cylinder, 1½ to two inches in diameter, weighing a quarter of a pound. Made near the capital, Lisbon, on many small farms.

Salonite
Italy

Favorite of Emperor Augustus a couple of thousand years ago.

Saltee
Ireland

Firm; highly colored; tangy; boxed in half-pound slabs. The same as Whitethorn except for the added color. Whitethorn is as white as its name implies.

Salt-free cheese, for diets

U.S. cottage; French fresh goat cheese; and Luxembourg Kochenkäse.

Hard; white; sharp; slightly powdery and sweetish. This is the pet cheese of Erik Blegvad who illustrated this book.

Sandwich Nut

An American mixture of chopped nuts with Cream cheese or Neufchâtel.

Soft as butter; sheep; burnt taste, delicious with fruits. Blackened rind, deep yellow interior.

Scarmorze or Scamorze
Italy

Hard; buffalo milk; mild Provolone type. Also called Pear from being made in that shape, oddly enough also in pairs, tied together to hang from rafters on strings in ripening rooms or in the home kitchen. Fine when sliced thick and fried in olive oil. A specialty around Naples. Light-tan oiled rind, about 3½ by five inches in size. Imitated in Wisconsin and sold as Pear cheese.

Schloss, Schlosskäse, or Bismarck
German

This Castle cheese, also named for Bismarck and probably a favorite of his, together with Bismarck jelly doughnuts, is an aristocratic Limburger that served as a model for Liederkranz.

Schmierkäse

German cottage cheese that becomes smearcase in America.

Soft, whole-milk; cylindrical, weighing about 1½ pounds.

Septmoncel
France

Semihard; skim; blue-veined; made of all three milks: cow, goat and sheep. An excellent "Blue" ranked above Roquefort by some, and next to Stilton. Also called Jura Bleu, and a member of the triple milk triplets with Gex and Sassenage.

Serbian
Serbia

Made most primitively by dropping heated stones into a kettle of milk over an open fire. After the rennet is added, the curd stands for an hour and is separated from the whey by being lifted in a cheesecloth and strained. It is finally put in a wooden vessel to ripen. First it is salted, then covered each day with whey for eight days and finally with fresh milk for six.

Syria also makes a cheese called Serbian from goat's milk. It is semisoft.

Serbian Butter see Kajmar.

Serra da Estrella, Queijo da (Cheese of the Star Mountain Range)
Portugal

The finest of several superb mountain-sheep cheeses in Portugal. Other milk is sometimes added, but sheep is standard. The milk is coagulated by an extract of thistle or cardoon flowers in two to six hours. It is ripened in circular forms for several weeks and marketed in rounds averaging five pounds, about ten by two inches. The soft paste inside is pleasantly oily and delightfully acid.

Sharp-flavored cheese