THE GREAT CHEESES OF SPAIN

Cheese is sacred to Spaniards. Their shepherds have been making it for thousands of years, and for a few hundred, the rest of the populace has been nibbling away at it in great quantities while sipping aperitifs at tapas bars.

Among the wide variety of cheeses that have emerged from the country over the ages, the following four—all protected under Denominación de Origen (D.O.) legislation—are the best-known of the old guard, and were the first to become widely available outside their homeland.

 

MANCHEGO is easily Spain’s most popular cheese, and became well known for reasons likely to do with its famous place of origin. It is made in La Mancha (Cervantes even refers to it in Don Quixote) in the interior of Spain, a dry highland known for its blustering winds. In winter, the region becomes so windy that the long-haired sheep are the only living creatures who don’t seem to mind. Made from the milk of these hardy animals, manchego can be served both very young (aged only two months) and very old (aged two years or more). Beloved for its mild flavor, with hints of brine and nutty accents, it’s a cheese that is easy to like and plays well with others, particularly Andalusian olives for a bar snack, or membrillo (quince paste) for dessert. A sturdy, salty, simple pleasure.

CABRALES and PICÓN BEJES-TREVISO are blue cheeses made from the combined milks of cows, sheep, and goats. They are crafted in the Asturia-Cantabria region just east of Galicia, inland from the coast, where the highlands are wild and rugged and the animals graze in perfect pastures. An incredibly strong, intense affair, Cabrales is shot through with amethyst-colored veins. It bears a deep, complex flavor and a scent you can detect from miles away—not one for the faint of heart, but a reward for the stalwart. Fragile and crumbly without being sticky, it leaves an impression on the palate that makes one long for another bite. Picón Bejes-Tresviso (often referred to as picón) is buttery and slightly oily, marbled with bluish-green veins, and also quite assertive. Both cheeses are often triple-wrapped in large maple leaves, foil, and plastic before being sold. They are excellent choices for after-dinner cheeses, with sherry.

IDIAZÁBAL, a nutty, raw sheep’s milk number that is usually smoked, is an ancient cheese from the Basque country. (It used to be stored in the chimneys of shepherds’ huts.) With a rust-brown exterior hiding a pale yellow, dense, and firm interior, it’s perfect for grating or melting over just about anything—and, with accompaniments of bread and perhaps some lusty, thinly sliced salami, durable enough to withstand a picnic.

Equally excellent are the many other Spanish cheeses that have been made for centuries: tetilla, Mahón, Izbores, and Roncal, along with Garrotxa, the goat’s milk cheese from Catalonia, and torta del Casar, the almost-liquid sheep’s milk cheese that many consider the very top of the bunch.

Written by Mimi Sheraton with Kelly Alexander in "1000 Foods To Eat Before You Die - A Food Lover's Life List", Workman Publishing, New York, USA, 2014, excerpts pp.842-843. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.