Bryndza is a sheep milk cheese made in Central and Eastern Europe. Recipes differ slightly across the countries.

Brânză or brînză is the generic word for “cheese” in Romanian, there is no special type of cheese associated with it. It is a word presumably inherited by the Romanian language from Dacian, the language of the pre-Roman population in the actual Romania. The word was first recorded as brençe in the Croatian port of Dubrovnik in 1370. Today, “bryndza”, a word descended from the Romanian root, is used in various countries throughout the CEE region such as Slovakia or Poland, due to its introduction by migrating Vlachs (please, see section Slovakia). In contrast to the original Romanian word, it is exclusively used for the one type of soft crumbly cheese described above.

The name “Liptauer” is derived from the German word for the region of Liptov in Northern Slovakia, a county before 1918, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In the province of Trieste in Italy, the cheese is also known as Spuma di formaggio all’unghereseIf ready made, generally comes in small tinfoil packages and has a spicy, sharp taste.In Austria, it is a typical snack served at the Heuriger (Austrian wine-drinking Tavern).

Vienna Heuriger Liptauer cheese spread can be made of any soft cheesees. Cottage cheese, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, quark cheese, soft goat or sheep cheesepage 135are all suitable for this purpose. The cheese is mixed with local sour cream, butter, margarine or beerpage 135 and finely chopped onions. Spices are added, like ground paprika, fresh parsley, usually whole caraway seeds (or ground caraway).

Other recipes involve prepared mustard, Worcestershire sauce, capers or anchovy paste. Consumed on open sandwich, toast, crackers, bagels or as a filling in cold dishes like filled tomatoes, peppers,Gundel’s Hungarian Cookbook, Karoly Gundel. or hard boiled eggs.In Slovakia and Hungary there are many Liptauer recipes. All families have their own family recipe and they claim that the right  is like their own individual interpretations of the dish.