Organic Manchego DOP Cheese

This is a classic Queso Manchego aged minimum 3 months. It’s made from pasteurized milk produced by heritage breed black ewes that graze the Parra family vineyard in La Mancha, central Spain. This cheese is the product of a farm and vineyard owned by three brothers: Francisco, Luis and Javier Parra, in the village of Las Mesas, province of Cuenca. The sheep play an important role in the cycle of the land, keeping the grass and weeds in check and fertilizing the farm and vineyard without the use of chemicals. The cheese is semi-Firm, with exceptionally high moisture content giving it a creamy mouth feel despite its slightly crumbly profile. The cheese has a zesty, buttery, lanolin scent. Its flavor is nutty, herbaceous, sweet and savory with a slight saltiness. La Oveja Negra is moister, more complex, sweeter and less salty than factory-made Manchegos.

 

Queso Manchego, or Manchego Cheese, is made La Mancha, a windswept region in the center of Spain. The milk must come from sheep of the Manchega breed. Officially recognized Spanish Manchego can be aged from 60 days to two years. Manchego cheese has an immediately recognizable flavor, which is delicate but developed, creamy yet firm in texture, with a distinct lanolin aftertaste characteristic of all sheep cheeses. The cheese is white when young and turns a rich yellow when older. The rind is natural, but not edible and can be almost white, to darkened with mold. By law the rind is allowed to be washed, coated in paraffin, dipped in olive oil, or treated with certain approved transparent substances. Queso Manchego is a protected agricultural product under Spain’s Denominación de Origen (DO) regulatory system. This means that under Spanish and European law, only cheese made in a certain way, from the milk of Manchego sheep in La Mancha, may be designated Queso Manchego and meet certain requirements.

• Made from unpasteurized sheep's milk.
• Photo depicts whole 7 lb. form of cheese.
• We cut and wrap this item by hand.