A Guide To Spanish Cheeses
Spain has long been known for its cheeses, which range from the sweet and salty manchego found on the country’s tapas to the funky cabrales found in the saucier’s pantry. The country makes cheese from three different types of milk: cow, goat, and sheep milk. Some cheeses may necessitate the blending of two or even three types of milk.
Most old cheeses are made using raw milk; that said, cheeses made using pasteurized or cooked milk are just as popular. The cheeses produced can be consumed fresh or aged for a period ranging from a week to more than two years. The attributes and recipes of most Spanish cheeses are protected by DOP (Denominación de Origen Protegida) throughout the European Union.
Cheese making has a long history in Spain, with some of the country’s cheese varieties dating back hundreds of years. The oldest is said to be a manchego-like queso made by shepherds who lived in the Iberian Peninsula long before the Roman conquest of the region. The next chapter in the country’s cheese making history would unfold nearly 700 years later, with the fall of the Roman Empire. The country’s monasteries would attempt to revive the lost art, making considerable progress in the decades to come. It was the monks’ practice to share their research with local nomadic shepherds, who would then disseminate the information to the general populace during the course of their travels across the country.
This led to almost every region in the country adapting the art in some form or another, using different types of milk and techniques depending on the palates and climate of the area. Spanish climates and microbial strains made for some truly unique cheeses that stood their ground against popular French and Italian variants on the global market. This would go on till the start of the first world war, after which the production of artisanal cheeses would be banned for nearly 50 years, following a decree issued by the dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled the country…
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