Manchego is a hard Spanish sheep’s milk cheese, made only in La Mancha region of Spain from whole milk of the Manchega sheep. This region is in southeast of Madrid, more than 600 meters above sea level. This climate is very important for milk – fallow land, wheat fields and brush fields, continental climate with cold winters and hot summers.
How to make the Manchego cheese?
This cheese is so unique because it is made from sheep’s milk and has very old traditions (first Manchego was made thousands of years ago on the Iberian peninsula). Traditionally esparto grass molds are used to imprint a zigzag pattern on one side of the cheese and small wooden pressing boards imprints some typical signs on the top and bottom of the cheese. Talking about Manchego cheese it is important to mention that it was mentioned in “Don Quixote of La Mancha” by Cervantes.
How it tastes?
The taste of Manchego cheeses depends on its aging time. These days you can find two types: made from unpasteurized sheep’s milk (farmhouse type) and from pasteurized milk (industrial type).
Manchego is used only in a very specific food recipes.