Auvergne, Bleu d’ see Bleu.

Au Vin Blanc, Confits see Epoisses.

Avesnes, Boulette d’ see Boulette.

Aydes, les
Orleanais, France

Not eaten during July, August or September.  Season, October to June.

Azeitao, Queijo do
Portugal

Soft, sheep, sapid and extremely oily as the superlative ao 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.

B

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 a 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.

Ball
U.S.A.

Made from thick sour milk in Pennsylvania in the style of the original
Pennsylvania Dutch settlers.

Ballakaese 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.