        Quesos Superiores de España
         (Superior Cheeses of Spain)
One traditionally does not think of Spain as a cheese country. This could not be farther from the truth! Queso, Spanish for cheese, is a serious part of Spanish cuisine in all of its various types. In Spain you find goat's milk cheeses, cow's milk cheeses, sheep's milk cheeses along with mixed-milk cheeses. Some are raw cheeses, some are Pasteurized, some are soft, some are firm and some are hard but all are delicious.
We are going to examine 6 of Spain's less well known but superior cheeses. All are available in the USA & Canada but you will need to search for them. Those of us fortunate enough to live in areas with large Spanish or Cuban or Argentine populations will find that an easy & pleasant task. Unfortunately these cheeses are not found in Mexican, Colombian or Puerto Rican bodegas or delis.
Serrat del Triado
This is not the usual serrat made from sheep's milk but rather a hard, raw cow's milk cheese from the Spanish Pyrenees. It is produced in an area famed for sheep & goat's milk cheeses but this one stands out. This is an cheese aged 4-6 months with a distinctive sharpness. It is used to cook with as well as being served as an appetizer cheese or diced into salads. Try this one and you will pleased that you did.
Queso de Peral
Pungent, strong, tasty & rare is what this mixed-milk cheese from Asturia is all about. It is an aged bleu cheese without the bleu coloring. It is made from sheep's milk cream mixed with cow's milk and is aged in the caverns of Peral in long tubes. It is a great cheese for appetizers, as a filling or in salads.
Queso Roncal
Made in Navarra this is a firm, raw & especially pleasing cheese. Made only from the milk of Latcha or Aragonese Rasa sheep this cheese is, in Spain, considered to be better than Manchego for which Spain is so justly well known. This cheese is rather firm and shaves well. It is a wonderful addition to any salad, sandwich or with wines.
Queso de Murcia al Vino
In Murcia, a place notably well known for this cheese it is colloquially called, "drunken goat cheese." In actuality it is a wine washed, Pasteurized, slightly aged (2-5 days)Â goat's milk cheese washed with Jumila or Yecla wine. This cheese has a distinctive sweetness combined with the pungency of any goat cheese that makes for an excellent taste. It is a semi-soft cheese that goes well on sandwiches, in salads, cooked into sauces or as an enhancer for desserts.
El Suspiro Torte de Los Montes de Toledo
This goat's milk cheese's name tells you exactly where it originates from in Spain. It is Pasteurized soft cheese that is not pleasant to look upon in its grey, scaly & often cracked rind but the interior of the rind is filled with a delightfully soft & very tasty cheese that may be spooned out to be used as a spread cheese or in sauces or fillings or upon bread as an accompaniment for wines or fruits.
Queso Cabrales
Mixed-milks make this cheese a unique tasting raw, aged & awesomely wonderful bleu cheese made in small farmhouses then sold at markets or to vendors. Originating in the Picos de Europa region of northern Spain this cheese has a justly earned reputation as one of the best salad or appetizer cheeses in all of Europe. Cheese afficionados often remark about this being a superior cheese to much more famous French Roquefort bleu cheese.
SOURCES:
Los 100 Quesos Espanoles
By: Eric Canut, Barcelona Savat 2000
Käse Der Welt
By: Karl Tobler & Erich Friese, München Deutschland 2002
http://www.cheese.com
http://www.food-info.net/uk/dairy/cheese-production.htm
http://www.cheesefromspain.com
http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10120421/Cheese.html
Copyright © 2008 Donald R Houston, PhD. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the author's consent.
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Comments: 8
I'm surprised you haven't separately listed the queen of Spanish cheeses, manchego. And have you ever tasted the glorious an~ejo that has been wrapped in grape leaves and submerged in olive oil for a year?