🧀 Bundz

Bundz (also bunc) is a sheep's milk cheese of the Polish Carpathians, made by curdling the milk with rennet and shaping the curd by hand into a single lump. It is entered on the Polish list of traditional products in two versions: Bundz / bunc from the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 10 October 2005) and Bundz / grudka from the Silesian Voivodeship (since 15 February 2007).

According to the Lesser Poland entry, the milk is curdled with a piece of calf stomach, and the curd is shaped by hand into a lump called bundz. The cheese is loaf-shaped, with a thin, elastic, off-white to cream rind with a white mould bloom, a white or whitish-celadon paste with rare pea-sized holes, and a mild, slightly sour, nutty taste.

Bundz or bryndza? Bundz is a sheep’s milk cheese of the Polish Carpathians, curdled with rennet and shaped by hand into a single lump. It has two entries on the Polish list of traditional products: bunc from Lesser Poland (since 10 October 2005) and grudka from Silesia (since 15 February 2007). Bunc has a thin, elastic rind with a white mould bloom and a mild, slightly sour, nutty taste. Grudka forms a hard rind, cream at first and later with a light green coating, and tastes very mild and sweet, turning slightly sour with age. Bryndza is a separate cheese.

Look for the names “Bundz / bunc” (Lesser Poland) or “Bundz / grudka” (Silesia): both are entries on the Polish list of traditional products, and a pack may mention the entry. It is a sheep’s milk cheese in a loaf shape with a thin rind; a cream rind with a white or light green bloom belongs to it. Expect it at a regional market, a regional products shop or a delicatessen, and check the ingredients on the label.

According to the Silesian entry, the cheese is made from sheep's milk and is round, like a loaf. A hard rind forms during ripening: it is cream at first and later gets a light green coating. The taste is very mild and sweet, turning slightly sour with age.