Complete Book of Cheese, The

R

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.

Radolfzeller Cream
Germany, Switzerland, Austria

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.

Récollet de Gérardmer
Vosges, France

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.

Riceys see Champenois.

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.

Roblochon, le

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

King of cheeses, with its "tingling Rabelaisian pungency." See Chapter 3.

Roquefort cheese dressing, bottled
U.S.A.

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.

Runesten
Denmark and U.S.A.

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.

S

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.

Saanen
Switzerland

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

This is more of a cream cheese, than a Cheddar, as Sage is in the U.S.A. It is made by adding sage leaves and a greening to milk by the method described in Chapter 4.

Saint-Affrique
Guyenne, France

This gourmetic center, hard by the celebrated town of Roquefort, lives up to its reputation by turning out a toothsome goat cheese of local renown.

We will not attempt to describe it further, since like most of the host of cheeses honored with the names of Saints, it is seldom shipped abroad.

Saint-Agathon
Brittany, France

Season, October to July.

Saint-Amand-Montrond
Berry, France

Made from goat's milk.

Saint-Benoit
Loiret, France

Soft Olivet type distinguished by charcoal being added to the salt rubbed on the outside of the finished cheese. It ripens in twelve to fifteen days in summer, and eighteen to twenty in winter. It is about six inches in diameter.

Saint-Claude
Franche-Comté, France

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.

Saint-Loup, Fromage de
Poitou and Vendée, France

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.

Saint-Olivet see Chapter 3.

Saint-Pierre-Pouligny see Pouligny-Saint-Pierre.

Saint-Reine see Alise.

Saint-Rémy, Fromage de
Haute-Saône, France

Soft Pont l'Evêque type.

Saint-Stefano
German

Bel Paese type.

Saint-Winx
Flanders, France

The fromage of Saint-Winx is a traditional leader in this Belgian border province noted for its strong, spiced dairy products.

Sainte-Anne d'Auray
Brittany, France

A notable Port-Salut made by Trappist monks.

Sainte-Marie
Franche-Comté, France

A creamy concoction worthy of its saintly name.

Sainte-Maure, le, or Fromage de Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine
France

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.

Samsö
Denmark

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.

Sapsago see Chapter 3.

Sardegna
Sardinia

A Romano type made in Sardinia.

Sardinian
Sardinia, Italy

The typical hard grating cheese of this section of Italy.

Sardo
Sardinia, Italy

Hard; sharp; for table and for seasoning. Imitated in the Argentine. There is also a Pecorino named Sardo.

Sarraz or Sarrazin
Vaud, Switzerland

Roquefort type.

Sassenage
Dauphiny, France

Semihard; bluer and stronger than Stilton. This makes a French trio of Blues with Septmoncel and Gex, all three of which are made with the three usual milks mixed: cow, goat and sheep. A succulent fermented variety for which both Grenoble and Sassenage are celebrated.

Satz
Germany

Hard cheese made in Saxony.

Savoy, Savoie
France

Semisoft; mellow; tangy Port-Salut made by Trappist monks in Savoy.

Sbrinz
Argentine

Hard; dry; nutty; Parmesan grating type.

Scanno
Abruzzi, Italy

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.

Schabziger see Chapter 3.

Schafkäse (Sheep Cheese)
Germany

Soft; part sheep milk; smooth and delightful.

Schamser, or Rheinwald
Canton Graubiinden, Switzerland

Large skim-milker eighteen by five inches, weighing forty to forty-six pounds.

Schlickermilch

This might be translated "milk mud." It's another name for Bloder, sour milk "waddle" cheese.

Schlesische Sauermilchkäse
Silesia, Poland

Hard; sour-milker; made like hand cheese. Laid on straw-covered shelves, dried by a stove in winter and in open latticed sheds in summer. When very dry and hard, it is put to ripen in a cellar three to eight weeks and washed with warm water two or three times a week.

Schlesischer Weichquarg
Silesia, Poland

Soft, fresh skim, sour curd, broken up and cooked at 100° for a short time. Lightly pressed in a cloth sack twenty- four hours, then kneaded and shaped by hand, as all hand cheeses are. Sometimes sharply flavored with onions or caraway. Eaten fresh, before the strong hand cheese odor develops.

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.

Schnitzelbank Pot see Liederkranz, Chapter 4.

Schönland
German

Imitation of Italian Bel Paese, also translated "beautiful land."

Schützenkäse
Austria

Romadur-type. Small rectangular blocks weighing less than four ounces and wrapped in tin foil.

Shottengsied
Alpine

A whey cheese made and consumed locally in the Alps.

Schwarzenberger
Hungary and Bohemia

One part skim to two parts fresh milk. It takes two to three months to ripen.

Schweizerkäse
Switzerland

German for Swiss cheese. (See Emmentaler.)

Schweizerost Dansk, Danish Swiss Cheese
Denmark

A popular Danish imitation of Swiss Swiss cheese that is nothing wonderful.

Select Brick see Chapter 12.

Selles-sur Cher
Berry, France

A goat cheese, eaten from February to September.

Sénecterre
Puy-de-Dôme, France

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

U.S. aged Cheddars, including Monterey Jack; Italian Romano Fecorino, Old Asiago, Gorgonzola, Incanestrato and Caciocavallo; Spanish de Fontine; Aged Roumanian Kaskaval.

Shefford see Chapter 2.

Silesian
Poland and Germany

White; mellow; caraway-seeded. Imitated in the U.S.A. (see Schlesischer.)

Sir cheeses

In Yugoslavia, Montenegro and adjacent lands Sir or Cyr means cheese. Mostly this type is made of skimmed sheep milk and has small eyes or holes, a sharp taste and resemblance to both American Brick and Limburger. They are much fewer than the Saint cheeses in France.

Sir Iz Mjesine
Dalmatia, Yugoslavia

Primitively made by heating skim sheep milk in a bottle over an open fire, coagulating it quickly with pig or calf rennet, breaking up the curd with a wooden spoon and stirring it by hand over the fire. Pressed into forms eight inches square and two inches thick, it is dried for a day and either eaten fresh or cut into cubes, salted, packed in green sheep or goat hides, and put away to ripen.

Sir Mastny
Montenegro

Fresh sheep milk.

Sir Posny
Montenegro

Hard; skim sheep milk; white, with many small holes. Also answers to the names of Tord and Mrsav.

Sir, Twdr see Twdr Sir.

Sir, Warshawski see Warshawski Syr.

Siraz
Serbia

Semisoft; whole milk. Mellow.

Skyr
Iceland

The one standard cheese of the country. A cross between Devonshire cream and cream cheese, eaten with sugar and cream. It is very well liked and filling, so people are apt to take too much. A writer on the subject gives this bit of useful information for travelers: "It is not advisable, however, to take coffee and Skyr together just before riding, as it gives you diarrhea."

Slipcote, or Colwick
England

Soft; unripened; small; white; rich as butter. The curd is put in forms six by two inches for the whey to drain away. When firm it is placed between cabbage leaves to ripen for a week or two, and when it is taken from the leaves the skin or coat becomes loose and easily slips off—hence the name. In the middle of the eighteenth century it was considered the best cream cheese in England and was made then, as today, in Wissenden, Rutlandshire.

Smältost
Sweden

Soft and melting.

Smearcase

Old English corruption of German Schmierkäse, long used in America for cottage cheese.

Smoked Block
Austria

A well-smoked cheese in block form.

Smoked Mozzarella see Mozzarella Affumicata.

Smoked Szekely
Hungary

Soft; sheep; packed like sausage in skins or bladders and smoked.

Smokelet
Norway.

A small smoked cheese.

Soaked-curd cheese see Washed-curd cheese.

Sorbais
Champagne, France

Semihard; whole milk; fermented; yellow, with reddish brown rind. Full flavor, high smell. Similar to Maroilles in taste and square shape, but smaller.

Sorte Maggenga and Sorte Vermenga

Two "sorts" of Italian Parmesan.

Soumaintrain, Fromage de
France

Soft; fine; strong variety from Upper Burgundy.

Soybean
China

Because this cheese is made of vegetable milk and often developed with a vegetable rennet, it is rated by many as a regular cheese. But our occidental kind with animal milk and rennet is never eaten by Chinese and the mere mention of it has been known to make them shiver.

Spalen or Stringer
Switzerland

A small Emmentaler of fine reputation made in the Canton of Unterwalden from whole and partly skimmed milk and named from the vessel in which five or six are packed and transported together.

Sperrkäse see Dry.

Spiced
International

Many a bland cheese is saved from oblivion by the addition of spice, to give it zest. One or more spices are added in the making and thoroughly mixed with the finished product, so the cheese often takes the name of the spice: Kuminost or Kommenost for cumin; Caraway in English and several other languages, among them Kümmel, Nokkelost and Leyden; Friesan Clove and Nagelkass; Sage; Thyme, cloverleaf Sapsago; whole black pepper Pepato, etc.

Spiced and Spiced Spreads
U.S.A.

Government standards for spiced cheeses and spreads specify not less than 1½ ounces of spice to 100 pounds of cheese.

Spiced Fondue see Vacherin Fondu.
France

Spitz Spitzkase
Germany

Small cylinder, four by one and a half inches. Caraway spiced, Limburger-like. see Backsteiner.

Sposi
Italy

Soft; small; cream.

Spra
Greek

Sharp and pleasantly salty, packed fresh from the brine bath in one-pound jars. As tasty as all Greek cheeses because they are made principally from sheep milk.

Stängenkase
Germany

Limburger type.

Stein Käse
U.S.A.

Aromatic, piquant "stone." A beer stein accompaniment well made after the old German original.

Steinbuscher-Käse
German

Semihard; firm; full cream; mildly sour and pungent. Brick forms, reddish and buttery. Originated in Frankfurt. Highly thought of at home but little known abroad.

Steppe
Russia, Germany, Austria, Denmark

German colonists made and named this in Russia. Rich and mellow, it tastes like Tilsiter and is now made in Denmark for export, as well as in Germany and Austria for home consumption.

Stilton see Chapter 3.

Stirred curd cheese
U.S.A.

Similar to Cheddar, but more granular, softer in texture and marketed younger.

Stracchino
Italy

Soft; goat; fresh cream; winter; light yellow; very sharp, rich and pungent. Made in many parts of Italy and eaten sliced, never grated. A fine cheese of which Taleggio is the leading variety. See in Chapter 3. Also see Certoso Stracchino.

Stracchino Crescenza is an extremely soft and highly colored member of this distinguished family.

Stravecchio
Italy

Well-aged, according to the name. Creamy and mellow.

Stringer see Spalen.

Styria
Austria

Whole milk. Cylindrical form.

Suffolk
England

An old-timer, seldom seen today. Stony-hard, horny "flet milk" cartwheels locally nicknamed "bang." Never popular anywhere, it has stood more abuse than Limburger, not for its smell but for its flinty hardness.

Surati, Panir
India

Buffalo milk. Uncolored.

Suraz
Serbia

Semihard and semisoft.

Sveciaost
Sweden

A national pride, named for its country, Swedish cheese, to match Swiss cheese and Dutch cheese. It comes in three qualities: full cream, ¾ cream, and half cream. Soft; rich; ready to eat at six weeks and won't keep past six months. A whole-hearted, whole-milk, wholesome cheese named after the country rather than a part of it as most osts are.

Sweet-curd
U.S.A.

Hard Cheddar, differing in that the milk is set sweet and the curd cooked firmer and faster, salted and pressed at once. When ripe, however, it is hardly distinguishable from the usual Cheddar made by the granular process.

Swiss
U.S.A.

In 1845 emigrants from Galrus, Switzerland, founded New Galrus, Wisconsin and, after failing at farming due to cinch bugs gobbling their crops, they turned to cheesemaking and have been at it ever since. American Swiss, known long ago as picnic cheese, has been their standby, and only in recent years these Wisconsin Schweizers have had competition from Ohio and other states who turn out the typical cartwheels, which still look like the genuine imported Emmentaler.

Szekely
Transylvania, Hungary

Soft; sheep; packed in links of bladders and sometimes smoked. This is the type of foreign cheese that set the popular style for American processed links, with wine flavors and everything.