Print Send via e-mail/ GPS
Add to My Saved Items
Add to My Saved Items
Plan your route from | to | via this address.
Menorcan Cheese
| 13-04-2009 Despite being known as the "island of the wind" due to its geographical location in the western Mediterranean. Menorca enjoys a mild climate that makes it one of the world’s most beautiful protected areas. As with all the Balearic Islands, Menorca’s economic driving force is tourism. However, the island’s livestock industry and the manufacture of Menorcan cheese, spearheaded by its Denominación de Origencheeses, are alsoof vital importance. Cheese represents a huge part of Menorcan culture and custom and has played a key role in enabling the island to maintain its identity. The grazing of cattle on family-run farms, with land divided into plots by a maze of dry stone walls, forms a part of Menorca’s characteristic rural landscape and has enabled the island to maintain the ecological balance that led to its UNESCO declaration as aBiosphere Reserve in 1993.  Mahón cheese - Denominación de OrigenThis cheese has long been a symbolic product for Menorca, produced from cow's milk, set at low temperatures, salted through immersion and cured according to local Menorcan custom. Its manufacture is based on ancient traditions and represents a pillar of the culinary history of Menorcan farming. The archives of the Crown of Aragonreflect the importance of the role of Menorcan livestock and the manufacture of Mahón cheese in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By the eighteenth century, the trade was growing at such a rate that four boats were dedicated solely to the transportation of Menorcan cheese from the port of Mahón to Genoa and other important places in the western Mediterranean. Despite often being manufactured elsewhere on the island, the cheese, therefore, came to be known as cheese from the port of Mahon or, more succinctly, Mahon cheese. As well as specific geological and environmental factors such as soil type, temperature, humidity and light levels, a number of traditional practices and maturation processes also serve to influence the characteristic aroma and flavour of Menorcan cheese.  PreparationIt’s fair to say that a cheese maker’s job is never done as the process requires that the cows are milked on all 365 days of the year. The practice of cheese making is long established throughout Menorca, with the techniques and treatments that define the region’s authentic cheese passed down from generation to generation. Typically, the cheese possesses a firm texture and a colour that evolves from milky white to deep yellow according to the degree of maturation. Another characteristic feature is the irregular emergence of holesthat vary in size but are never larger than a pea. Afogasser (a piece of linen or cotton cloth) is filled with enough curd to obtain the right sized cheese before being placed on a wide flat surface to set. The four corners of the fogasserare tied with a fine cord with a small piece of wood at the end (the lligam). The result is a traditional, squarish, medium-height cheese with rounded corners and sides. Lever-operated presses are used to mark the surface of the cheese with the ties and creases of the fogasser, creating a hallmark known as a mamella. Mahón-Menorca cheese is made with pasteurized milk using the same processes but with a cast made from special molds that give the cheese its characteristic square shape with rounded edges and corners. The maturation process takes place in natural caves or curing cellars. The process involves the cheeses being placed on wooden slatted shelves and intermittently turned over and brushed with olive oil, sometimes mixed with paprika, depending on the cheese maker's customs and traditions.  TypesThere are two types of Menorcan cheese that can be distinguished according to the initial treatment of the milk that is used: Mahón-Menorca cheese: made with pasteurized milk that has been processed and/or treated in order to conserve it in authorized industrial dairies. Artisan Mahón-Menorca cheese: made with unheated milk in authorizedartisan dairies. Menorca’s Denominación de Origencheeses vary according to their degree of maturation and these levels can be categorized in three ways: TIERNO – a smooth cheese with a yellow/white colour and thin, soft and elastic crust. A lactic aroma with a mild hint of butter and light acidic characteristics. (21-60 days). SEMI – an unmistakably characteristic cheese with a compact rind that will vary from pale yellow (typical of young cheeses) to orange/brown if it is artisan. Firm and easy to cut, this ivory/yellow cheese will darken as it matures and features a variable number of small, unevenly distributed holes. The taste is mild, slightly salty and acidic with hints of butter and roasted hazelnuts. (2-5 months). CURADO - A delight for cheese lovers with a firm, hard and notably less elastic texture and a reddish rind. Once in the advanced stages of maturation, this cheese becomes more brittle and flaky when cut. These cheeses have a complex and intense aroma and a salty, woody, leathery taste that lingers long in the mouth. (5 months) |
