Cheese in Spain by Marcliff

Cheese - Queso

by marcliff

By popular demand we come onto cheese - queso (pronounced kay so).
You pop into a supermarket and are confronted by, literally, hundreds of different types of cheese. Dutch, French, British, Italian and so on. Most of these you will be familiar with but there are over 100 different types of cheese produced in Spain so I'll concentrate on some of those.
When ordering cheese, you put queso first then the type. For example, queso cheddar.
If you pick up a pack of pre-packed cheese you will see the price per kilo on the label but it's much more fun to order it from the counter.
It is normally sold per 100 grams or per kilo. (Precio por 100 g / precio por kilo).
100 grams is a little under a quarter pound (cien gramas), un cuarto de queso (tipo) a little over half a pound and medio kilo de queso (tipo) just over a pound. It's very easy to compare prices as, por ejemplo, 1.2 euro por 100g is 12 euro a kilo, 11.50 por kilo is 1.15 euro for 100 g.
Strong cheese is marked queso maduro (mature). I haven't seen any marked medium mature but mild and creamy cheese is queso tierno.
Smoked cheeses are queso ahumado or semi-ahumado and queso curado is cured cheese.
Most of the supermarkets will let you taste a bit first.
Queso de vaca is cows milk cheese, queso de cabra is goats milk and queso de oveja is sheeps milk cheese.

Now, types.
Every region has its own type made from different types of milk.
Queso de Cabrales. If the Gods eat cheese, this is the one they would choose. It is a fantastic, creamy blue cheese from Asturias. Made with unpasteurised cows milk only bred in the Asturias region. To my mind, it is better than Stilton and goes brilliantly with galletas integral (wholemeal crackers) or water biscuits. You can buy this in Gama and, at about 1.30 for 100g, it is incredibly cheap. Try 100g and see for yourself.
Mahon. This is my wife's favourite (she's a cheese nut, by the way). Comes with an orange rind from Menorca (the capital is Mahon) and has the same texture as cheddar but a nutty flavour. Unsmoked or cured it is a delicious cheese eaten by itself or with crusty bread.
Manchego. Probably the best known Spanish cheese. Comes from the central region of Ciudad Real and made of ewes milk. Sweetish, mild and nutty. Normally with a green rind.
Nata de Cantabria. Nata means cream (just so you know when buying actual cream). This lives up to its name and almost melts in the mouth when you eat it. It comes from Cantabria and can have a very nice bitter taste underlying the cream. Well worth it on Ryvita, believe it or not.
Queso de Cabra. This is goats milk cheese and comes from several different regions. A little tasteless for me and my wife is not keen on it although some come coated with peppercorns or rosemary to spice it up a bit.

The strength of the cheese depends on how long it has been aged for and the curing process.
Some types of mild cheese are Tetilla and San Simon. These are very mild .
Medium cheeses include Mahon as mentioned plus Arzua-Ulloa from Galicia and Izbores from Extremadura.
Strong cheeses include Roncal from Navarra, Zamorana from Castilla and Idiazabal from the Basque Country. But don't forget my favourite queso de Cabrales. I have already mentioned Manchego but Manchego Reserva is extra matured and very strong.

So, not that many listed out of the hundred or so available. At least you will be able to order some and, at the prices per 100g, try some of the different types. There are loads of others depending on how adventurous you want to be. I haven't tried it but Murcia al Vino sounds good as it is soaked in red wine during aging.
There is also queso en polvo (literally cheese dust which is how they class things like grated parmesan, cheese for pizza and so on, or queso gratinado (grated cheese for things like grated cheddar).

Now, not wishing to dominate the site, that will be it for now.
I hope you enjoy your meat, fish and cheese shopping and will find it a bit easier to get what you want without simply pointing and holding up a few fingers.

Of course, there's always the different types of sausages you can get here............