Bundz
A fresh, mild sheep cheese of the Polish Tatra highlands and the starting point for oscypek and bryndza.
Also: bunc, bundz owczy
Bundz is the first cheese a highland shepherd in southern Poland makes from the day's sheep milk. In the bacówka, the shepherd's hut on the summer pasture, raw milk is warmed and set with rennet, and the curd is gathered by hand into a cloth and hung to drain. The fresh cheese is white, soft and mildly sweet, with a squeaky bite, and is eaten within days, sliced or fried. Left to ferment for a week or two, it becomes the raw material for bryndza podhalańska, and its curd is also the starting point for oscypek. The sheep season runs from spring to early autumn, so bundz is a summer food.