Bel Paese
Italy

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.

Bergkaese see Allgaeuer.

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 Kuhkaese
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 Kuhkaese, 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.

Bexhill
England

Cream cheeses, small, flat, round.  Excellent munching.

Bierkaese
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 Olmuetzer.  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 4-1/4-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 a la creme 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.