#34 – Manchego

Manchego cheese facts:

• The Manchego is produced in the La Mancha region of Spain, which is also home to Don Quixote.
• It is made from unpasteurized sheep’s milk.
• It is one of the popular cheeses from Spain, made from sheep’s milk.
•  The traditional use of grass moulds leaves a distinctive, characteristic zigzag pattern on the Manchego cheese. This rustic molds are used outside of La Mancha as well. Thus, there are other Spanish sheep’s milk cheese with similar shape and markings, known commonly as “Manchego style” cheese.
• Authentic Manchego is only made from the Manchego sheep’s milk
• Manchego cheese is made from both pasteurized and unpasteurized milk. The farmhouse version is produced from unpasteurized milk while the industrial version is made from pasteurized milk.
• Manchego cheese is aged around 3 months are supple and moist. The flavor is fruity, grass, hay with a tangy note.
• Manchego cheese has a long historic and literary tradition, as it was mentioned by Cervantes in the legendary “Don Quixote of La Mancha”.