Idiazabal

Appearance & taste

Idiazabal is a cylindrical wheel 10 to 30 cm in diameter, 8 to 12 cm high and weighing 1 to 3.5 kg. The smooth, hard rind is pale yellow, dark brown on the smoked cheese. The paste is evenly ivory to straw-yellow, with a few small, irregular holes; it is slightly elastic, firm and somewhat grainy.

Sheep’s milk and rennet stand out clearly in the smell. The specification describes the taste as balanced, with an intense aroma and slightly sharp, sour and, where applicable, smoky notes, which lingers long in the finish. It names milk, rennet and roasted aromas as the basis. The cheese contains at least 55 % dry matter and, relative to this, at least 45 % fat and 25 % protein.

Each wheel carries a consecutively numbered casein mark, applied during moulding or pressing, and a numbered control label. Cheese made from the milk of a single farm may carry the addition “baserrikoa – de caserío” (farm-produced).

Production

The Latxa and Carranzana sheep live outdoors almost all year round. The flocks move between the valleys and the mountains with the seasons: in winter they eat the vegetation of the woods and valley pastures, in summer that of the mountain pastures. Supplementary feed is given only when grazing is difficult or when needs rise, for example during lactation.

The cheese is made from raw milk; apart from milk ferments, lysozyme, rennet and salt, nothing may be added. The curd is pressed but not cooked. According to the specification, heating the milk would weaken or remove the typical flavour notes. Milk production, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the area of origin. Portioning and packing are also only permitted there, at the earliest after the minimum ripening period of 60 days; in retail the cheese may be cut in front of the customer.

Origin & history

The area is a rugged mountain landscape in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. According to the specification, there is evidence that shepherds were already keeping Latxa and Carranzana sheep there around 2200 BC. The inaccessibility of the terrain helped traditional pastoral farming survive in many valleys. The climate ranges from Atlantic maritime to Mediterranean; the nutrient-rich soils support many natural meadows and pastures.

The specification attributes the character of the cheese above all to the two sheep breeds, which are very primitive and were shaped by the pastoral culture of the Basque Country and by the landscape. Because the milk is processed raw, the influences of pasture, climate and season are expressed directly in the cheese.