A kind of Maroilles.

Latticini _Italy_

Trade name for a soft, water-buffalo product as creamy as Camembert.

Laumes, les _Burgundy, France_

Made from November to July.

Lauterbach _Germany_

Breakfast cheese

Leaf _see_ Tschil.

Leather, Leder, or Holstein Dairy _Germany_

A skim-milker with five to ten percent b.u.t.termilk, all from the great _milch_ cows up near Denmark in Schleswig-Holstein. A technical point in its making is that it's "broken up with a harp or a stirring stick and stirred with a Danish stirrer."

Lebanie _Syria_

Dessert cottage cheese often served with yogurt.

Lecco, Formaggini di _Italy_

Soft; cow or goat; round dessert variety; representative of a cheese family as big as the human family of most Italians.

Lees _see_ Appenzeller, Festive, No. II.

LeGueyin _Lorraine, France_

Half-dried; small; salted; peppered and sharp. The salt _and_ pepper make it unusual, though not as peppery as Italian Pepato.

Leicester _England_

Hard; shallow; flat millstone of Cheddar-like cheese weighing forty pounds. Dark orange and mild to red and strong, according to age. With Wiltshire and Warwickshire it belongs to the Derbyshire type.

An ancient saying is: "Leicester cheese and water cress were just made for each other."

Leidsche Kaas _see_ Leyden.

Leonessa

A kind of Pecorino.

Leroy _U.S.A._

Notable because it's a natural cheese in a mob of modern processed.

Lerroux _France_

Goat; in season from February to September and not eaten in fall or winter months.

Lescin _Caucasus_

Curious because the sheep's milk that makes it is milked directly into a sack of skin. It is made in the usual way, rennet added, curd broken up, whey drained off, curd put into forms and pressed lightly. But after that it is wrapped in leaves and ropes of gra.s.s. After curing two weeks in the leaves, they are discarded, the cheese salted and wrapped up in leaves again for another ripening period.

The use of a skin sack again points the a.s.sociation of cheese and wine in a region where wine is still drunk from skin bags with nozzles, as in many wild and mountainous parts.

Les Pet.i.ts Bressans _Bresse, France_

Small goat cheeses named from food-famous Bresse, of the plump pullets, and often stimulated with brandy before being wrapped in fresh vine leaves, like Les Pet.i.ts Banons.

Les Pet.i.ts Fromages _see_ Pet.i.ts Fromages and Thiviers.

Le Vacherin

Name given to two entirely different varieties: I. Vacherin a la Main II. Vacherin Fondu. (_See_ Vacherin.)

Levroux _Berry, France_

A goat cheese in season from May to December.

Leyden, Komijne Kaas, Caraway Cheese _Holland_

Semihard, tangy with caraway. Similar Delft. There are two kinds of Leyden that might be called Farm Fat and Factory Thin, for those made on the farms contain 30 to 35% fat, against 20% in the factory product.

Liederkranz _see_ Chapter 4.

Limburger _see_ Chapter 3.

Lincoln _England_

Cream cheese that keeps two to three weeks. This is in England, where there is much less refrigeration than in the U.S.A., and that's a big break for most natural cheeses.

Lindenhof _Belgium_

Semisoft; aromatic; sharp.

Lipta, Liptauer, Liptoiu _Hungary_

A cla.s.sic mixture with condiments, especially the great peppers from which the world's best paprika is made. Liptauer is the regional name for Brinza, as well, and it's made in the same manner, of sheep milk and sometimes cow. Salty and spready, somewhat oily, as most sheep-milkers are. A fairly sharp taste with a suggestion of sour milk. It is sold in various containers and known as "pickled cheese."

(_See_ Chapter 3.)

Lipto _Hungary_

Soft; sheep; white; mild and milky taste. A close relative of both Liptauer and Brinza.