Queso Manchego

Appearance & taste

A wheel is cylindrical with a flat top and bottom, at most 12 cm high and at most 22 cm wide; the diameter is 1.5 to 2.2 times the height. A cheese weighs between 0.4 and 4 kg. For slices or grated cheese it may also be made in blocks 20–25 cm long and 8–12 cm wide and high, weighing at most 4 kg.

The paste is firm and compact, white to ivory-yellowish, and has small, unevenly distributed holes or none at all. The texture is not very elastic, buttery and somewhat floury, and granular in very mature cheese. The cheese smells of lactic acid, intense and sour, and also sharp when very mature. It tastes slightly sour, strong and savoury, and becomes sharp in very mature cheese. The specification attributes the typical aftertaste to the milk of the Manchega sheep.

Each wheel carries a casein mark with a consecutive number and series on its top or bottom, applied during moulding and pressing. In addition there are numbered control labels that cannot be reused.

Production

The Manchega sheep graze all year round; in the fold they are also given concentrated feed, hay and by-products. The milk must contain at least 6.5 % fat and 4.5 % protein. Milk from other species is not allowed.

The cheese is made from sheep’s milk, natural rennet or other approved coagulating enzymes, and salt. The milk may be pasteurised or raw. Cheese made from raw milk may be called “Artesano” on the label. If the milk comes exclusively from the cheese dairy owner’s own livestock farm, the term “Queso de Granja” (farmhouse cheese) is also allowed. The finished cheese contains at least 55 % dry matter and at most 2.3 % salt.

Cheese up to 1.5 kg ripens for at least 30 days, heavier cheese for at least 60 days, and none for longer than two years. Rearing and milking the sheep and making the cheese take place in the area of origin. The cheese is always sold with its rind. This may be coated with paraffin, other approved transparent substances or olive oil, as long as it keeps its natural appearance and the casein mark remains legible; coatings that colour it black are prohibited. Portioning and packing are also allowed outside the area if the businesses follow the prescribed procedural protocol that ensures traceability.

Origin & history

La Mancha lies in the southern part of the Meseta, the central plateau of the Iberian Peninsula. The relief is flat, and the soil is calcareous clay. The climate is extremely continental: very cold winters, hot summers with up to 40 °C and little rainfall. Particular mention is made of pastures with mainly annual plants in clearings in the scrubland (matorral); on deeper, cool soils there are also densely covered pastures with mainly perennial and biennial plants (“fenalares”).

According to the specification, soil and climate have, through natural selection, made the Manchega sheep the breed best adapted to these conditions. Its milk is said to give the cheese its colour, smell, taste and texture. Cheese has been made from the milk of these sheep for a long time.