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This page contains an archive of all entries posted to 365 Cheeses in the Spain category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
Portugal is the previous category.
Switzerland is the next category.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
© 2008 Kirk Samuels
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Spain Archives
Here's how I remember that Manchego, most famous of Spanish cheeses, is made from sheep's milk:
Manchego comes from the Spanish region of La Mancha of Don Quixote fame. Don Quixote through some form of senility or madness confused the windmills and flocks of sheep of his home with giants and armies. These sheep are where the famous cheese comes from.
It may seem a long way to go to remember two things, a name and an animal, but despite the fact or maybe even because I know so many things, I often need to figure out ways to remember new information. But knowing Manchego = sheep's milk and knowing what that cheese tastes like, I can use it as a basis for tasting other cheeses and figuring out if they too are made from the milk of sheep and if they are as good as this very good Spanish cheese.
Often I see sheep's milk cheese labled as "ewe's milk". I do not say ewe's milk as I do not say "nanny's milk" when talking of goats or "she-cow's milk" when talking of cows. A ewe is a female sheep and therefore the obvious producer. If it has horns it is a ram and do not try to milk it.
Manchego is often labled to indicate its age. "Fresco" is fresh, "curado" is three to six months old, and "viejo" is at least a year. I could not find what Manchego that is between six months and a year old is called. I assume it is not allowed to show itself in public.
Manchego viejo has a white baked-potato-like color surrounded by a dark wheat-ear patterned rind. The flavor is subtle but lovely. I love to shave it over salads.
Name: Manchego
Type of Milk: Sheep, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in:
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/9/2006
Date Eaten: 11/14/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $13.99/lb.
Sa Canova is a Spanish cheese from the Balearic Island of Minorca. At first glance the orange rind and pale center may cause one to mistake the cheese for Port Salut. They are however quite different. Sa Canova like the best Spanish cheeses is made from sheep's milk. The cheese is less soft, easier to crumble apart that Port Salut. The rind of Port Salut is thick and plastic. Sa Canova's is easier on the palate.
Other than that I don't have much to say about it. If you were serving a cheese plate of Spanish cheeses you could include Sa Canova and not be disappointed as long as the other cheeses were really great.
Name: Sa Canova
Type of Milk: Sheep, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in:
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/09/2006
Date Eaten: 11/15/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $10.99/lb.
Put down your Manchego. Yes, Zorro may not have been carving his initial into his foes but that "Z" may have been for one of the finest of Spanish cheese, Zamorano. Zamorano is delicious or as Fleming put it, "a darned good cheese. Wow, a great @%$& cheese!" I guess "nutty" is a good description of the flavor.
It looks a lot like Manchego. White, baked-potato color with a brownish, wheat marked rind.
If you have an occassion where you would normally serve Manchego, ask for Zamorano and give it a try.
Name: Zamorano
Type of Milk: sheep, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Spain, Zamorano
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $18.99/lb.
Straight on the heels of Spain's Zamorano comes Drunken Goat or Queso de Cabra al Vino. Is it as good? No. Is it still a good cheese worth trying? Why, yes it is. Drunken Goat gets it name from the milk it is produced from, goat, and the intoxication from the Doble Pasta wine it is bathed in to impart a purplish outer shell. The cheese is soft, pleasant and smooth. The goat's milk instills a light tang to the cheese but the effects of the wine are not as easily noticed. In short it is a good cheese but nothing stellar. If the theme of your cheese plate is Spain or goat's milk cheese, it will make a welcome addition.
Name: Drunken Goat or Queso de Cabra al Vino
Type of Milk: goat, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
Urgelia comes from the Pyrenees of northern Spain and is named after the historical Catalan province of Urgell. The cheese itself reminds me of Port Salut but a little saltier and with a more flavorful rind. Urgelia's rind is infused with a brine of yeast before the cheese is left to cure, giving it a bready hint of beer and making it a good companion to either bread or cerveza.
Name: Urgelia or Urgell or queso de l'Alt Urgell
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $14.99/lb.
Pimentón, a smoked red paprika, is worked into the rind of some young Ibores cheeses, giving them a vibrant color and hint of piquantness. The raw milk that goes into Ibores comes from two hearty breeds of Spanish goats, the Retinta Extremeña and Verata, and the flavor is definitively goaty with a hint of smokiness and nutty sharpness. The texture is semi-soft, almost creamy. A very nice Spanish goat's cheese.
Name: Ibores or Queso de los Ibores
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain, Extremadura
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
A major difference between Idiazábal and other Spanish cheeses like Manchego and Zamorano is a hint of smoke. Idiazábal (pronounce the "zá" like a strong lispy "THA") is lightly smoked over cherry wood or beech which darkens the rind but does not permeate to the heart of the cheese. The cheese is nutty with a salty grana. Delicious.
Name: Idiazábal or Queso Idiazábal or Idiazabal
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $21.99/lb.
Leonora is a delicious cheese. A semi-soft goat's milk cheese with a rich cream-colored center and a gray ash rind, a little like a young Humboldt Fog with the ash on the outside. This one comes from Spain, the Spanish province and city of León. The labled indicated that Leonora is made from pasteurized milk but my experience shows that labels printed by small cheese shops are often wrong. Very often. Some online sites say Leonora is is unpasteurized but I can't find a definitive source to contradict the sticker.
Name: Leonora
Type of Milk: Goat's, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain, León
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $22.99/lb.
From the mind of Murcia, the town and region of southeastern Spain, the same region that gave us Charo, comes a wonderfully simple aged goat's cheese called Naked Goat. Its Spanish name, queso de Murcia curado, translates simply as Aged Cheese of Murcia while the English plays on the pure, raw milk origin of this delightful cheese. I even like the label with a cartoon goat, naked of course, though I am not fooled by the playfullness and simplicity. This is a deceptively fine cheese. Aged for about 6 months Naked Goat has many of the same qualities of the great Spanish sheep's milk cheese but a solid, rich goat's milk flavor.
Name: Naked Goat or Murcia Curado DO (or DOP) or Queso de Murcia Curado
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain, Murcia, Mitica
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
The shape kind of speaks the name of this cheese and the language used is Spanish. "Tetilla" is Spanish for either nipple or little breast or teet. A whole Tetilla cheese weighs over 2 pounds which says a lot for the cows and the women of Galecia where they make it.
The outer rind, like some provolone, is the hardened, air-dried remains of the cheese, past its prime and not worth eating. The inner cheese is semi-soft and a decent breakfast cheese, pleasant but nothing to get excited about. Serve it with good bread, Spanish jamon or chorizo.
Name: Tetilla or Queso Tetilla DOP or Queso de Tetilla
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain, Galecia
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $8.49/lb.
Supposedly Valdeón is often confused with its more famous relative Cabrales. Both are Spanish blues, aged in caves. Both cheeses were wrapped in the leaves of the Spanish Sycamore Maple, though Cabrales has now shed its leaf from more modren aluminum foil. Valdeón is more blue in color compared to the grey tones of Cabrales which are one of its distinguishing characteristics. I will speak more of Cabrales soon but now the spotlight is on Valdeón.
Valdeón comes from the northwestern mountain region of Spain outside of León. Though mainly produced from cow's milk alone, some producers will add goat's or sheep's milk to the mix. The blue cheese is salty and sharp and to my mind, wonderful. The texture is semi-soft but still firm, meaning it crumbles readily. Delicious with crusty bread or fine sherry.
Name: Valdeón or Valdeon or Picón de Valdeón
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semiosoft, blue
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $18.99/lb.
I would love to tell you that Campo de Montalban is brought to us by the same man who brought us Captain Kirk's nemesis in Star Trek II and fine Corinthian leather, but it would not be true. Instead I can tell you honestly that this cheese from central Spain is a blend of cow's, sheep's and goat's milk much in the style of its neighbor cheese, Manchego. Both cheeses have dark, waxy herringbone rinds and light butter colored centers. But the blend of milks in Campo de Montalban produces a more complex flavor that is worthy to try.
Serve it with other Spanish cheeses and wines.
Name: Campo de Montalban or Campo de Montalbán
Type of Milk: cow's, sheep's and goat's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain, La Mancha
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $12.99/lb.
Finding La Serena at the peak of ripeness is a real surprise. Between the first and second tasting of this cheese it went from a firm cheese of muddled flavor to a real oozer that was rich, creamy and packed with flavor remniscent of mushrooms sauteed in white wine and butter. If you are lucky enough to have an entire wheel of this sheep's milk cheese from Spain's Extremadura region at its peak of oozingly rich ripeness, cut off the entire top side and spoon out the inner softness onto warm bread or fried potatoes. Delicious!
Name: La Serena or Queso de la Serena
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semisoft
Produced in: Spain, Extremadura
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $17.99/lb.
From the sheep that bring us Merino wool comes a lovely ewe's milk cheese from Portugal that makes us feel as warm as a sweater. The taste is nutty and milky with the right amount of age and salt. One of my favorite Portuguese hard cheeses.
Name: Nisa
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Portugal, Alentejo
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where:United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $21.99/lb.
All too often when talking about Spanish cheeses people will say, "It's kind of like Manchego." Yes, I too am guilty of this. But not today. For the rest of this article I will not mention the "M" word.
Roncal is a hard sheep's milk cheese from the Navarra region of Basque Spain. The flavor is both buttery and nutty, both milky and a little grassy a nd very different from other sheep's milk cheeses like most Italian percorinos. The saltiness is just right for thin slices of Roncal by themselves or alongside almonds or Spanish quince paste. Rocal deserves a place on your Spanish cheese board.
Name: Roncal or Farmstead Roncal
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in:
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $21.99/lb.
One of the first things I ever heard about Cabrales was.... Well, let me bury the lead on this one and come back to that.
Cabrales is one of the finest blue cheeses in the world. The flavor is literally exciting. The rich, cheese curd, the tangy blue molds, the little crystals of sharp flavor, the powerful kiss of age around the rind all excite the particles on the tongue. Cabrales (pronounced "ca-brall-es") comes to us from Spain where it is matured in the caves of the Asturias region. Though sometimes made from a mixture of cow, goat and sheep milk, my selection was the exclusive product of cows.
The blue of Cabrales is not the semi-uniform veins of blue mold found in many others but a more mottled, natural dispertion of the Penicillium mold. Instead of injecting the cheese curd with mold, the seperated cheese curd of Cabrales is exposed to the natural molds of limestones caves and them mixed together to disperse the mold through the cheese. After another two to six months in the caves the blue permeates the cheese. It is then wrapped in foil (not leaves like Valdeón and sent to market. A wonderful cheese.
Oh yes. The first thing I ever heard about Cabrales, while working in the cheese shop of a gourmet market, was that a really good Cabrales was "con gusano" meaning "with worms" or containing maggots. Supposedly while in these caves Cabrales cheese can be visited by certain bugs that lay their eggs in the rich nutrients of the cheeese. Supposedly this is a delicacy. Supposedly. I really can find no more than urban or rural legend that this is true though it makes sense. My father when he was young worked for a major cheese company that started with KR and ended with AFT. His job was to cut out cheese mites that has infested the cheese. So if bugs can invade a semi-sterile cheese factory I do not see why they would not alos be living in wild caved. Whether the Spanish consider these fly larvae a delicacy as some say, I do not know, but will ask the next Spanaird I meet.
Name: Cabrales
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $24.99/lb.
Named for a county in northern Spain, Garrotxa, pronounced gah-ROATCH-ah, is a goat's milk cheese with good character. Firm but not hard, the texture has a soft bite with a milky flavor. An aged white rind protects the inner paste but was too tough to enjoy. It's a solid Spanish cheese, welcome in any Spanish cheese tray I put together but not ranking among my favorites. Good, but I can find better values of flavor for the money.
Name: Garrotxa
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $26.75/lb.
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