a la Creme see Fromage, Fromage Blanc, Chevretons.

a la Main see Vacherin.

a la Pie see Fromage.

a 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.

Allgaeuer Bergkaese, Allgaeuer Rundkaese, or Allgaeuer Emmentaler Bavaria

Hard; Emmentaler type.  The small district of Allgaeu names a mountain of cheeses almost as fabulous as our “Rock-candy Mountain.”  There are two principal kinds, vintage Allgaeuer Bergkaese and soft Allgaeuer Rahmkaese, 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 Allgaeuer Bergkaese can compete with the best Swiss.  Before the Russian revolution, in fact, all vintage cheeses of Allgaeu 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 Allgaeu found they had reached their prime.

Allgaeuer Rahmkaese
Bavaria