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Bruss Cheese is a fermented cheese spread made in Piedmont, Italy.

Many people dislike it because it has a strong, putrid smell -- and its sharp taste tastes just like it smells. Some people call it just plain nasty, and wives will berate husbands who offer it to unwitting foreign visitors.

To make Bruss Cheese spread, you start with sheep's cheese. You cut or crumble the cheese up, put it in a jar, cover the cheese with olive oil, then seal the jar. Some people make it in terracotta jars, others just use washed out glass jars. Every day for the next two weeks, invert the jar. Then every week after that, invert it just once a week. It can be eaten after 7 weeks, but many age it for up to 4 years. The mixture inside turns into a tan-coloured thick paste.

Instead of olive oil, some use milk and some alcohol, such as cognac, grappa or white wine. Some use olive oil, but add alcohol at a certain point to stop the fermentation.

Different makers make Bruss Cheese with different cheeses.

Cooking Tips
Bruss can be spread on bruschetta, or used to make a creamy dressing for vegetables or salads.

History
Bruss may have initially been a way to use up leftover bits of cheese.

Literature & Lore
A saying in Piedmont is "only love is stronger than Bruss."

Language Notes
Pronounced "Bruce."

See Also:

Casu Marzu

Other entries for:

Soft Cheeses
Añejo Cheese, Banon Cheese, Boilie Cheese, Boursin Cheese, Brie Cheese, Brillat-Savarin Cheese, Bruss Cheese, Burrata Cheese, Caboc Cheese, Camembert Cheese, Chèvre Frais, Cornish Yarg Cheese, Crottin de Chavignol Cheese, Crowdie Cheese, Cumulus Cheese, Edel de Cléron Cheese, Feta Cheese, Feuille d'automne Cheese, Fresh Cheeses, La Tur Cheese, Lancashire Cheese, Le Veillon Cheese, Lymeswold Cheese, Mitzithra Cheese (Fresh), Oaxaca Cheese, Oxford Isis Cheese, Pié d'angloys, Pithiviers Cheese, Squacquerone Cheese, St-Nectaire Cheese, Tarapatapom Cheese, Telemes Cheese, Vacherin Chaput Cheese, Vacherin Mont d'Or, Wensleydale with Cranberries

Other entries for:

Cheese
Affinage, American Cheeses, Casu Marzu, Cheese Rinds, Creamery, Double/Triple-Cream Cheese, Extra-Hard Cheeses, Firm Cheeses, Goat's Milk Cheeses, Mexican Cheeses, Pate (of a Cheese), Processed Cheese, Queso Fundido, Rennet, Semi-Firm Cheeses, Sheep's Milk Cheeses, Skim-Milk Cheeses, Smear-Ripened Cheeses, Surface-Ripened Cheeses, Sweet Curd Cheeses, The Crumblies, Truckle, Washed-Curd Cheeses, Washed-Rind Cheeses, Yak Cheese, Yeel Cheese

Other entries for:

Dairy
Butterfat, Butter, Milk, Nondairy Topping