Identifying Manchego Cheese

Manchego is a fatty cheese, prepared exclusively using milk from sheep of the Manchego breed and with a minimum maturing period of 60 days. The milk can be fresh or pasteurised, if prepared using fresh milk the milk comes from the company’s own herds and/or from cattle farms local to the production centre, therefore ensuring the traditional procedures are consistently followed.

In the base of the cheese, stamped in the skin should be a casein badge and a label with a small sticker showing the code of the regulatory body and a serial number.

Queso Manchego con Denominación de Origen

At the end of the maturing process the cheese should have the following physical appearance:

Cylindrical in shape, with relatively flat bases.
Height: between 7 and 12 centimetres
Diameter: Between 9 and 22 cm.
Weight: Between 1 and 3.5 Kg
Skin: Hard, pale yellow or greenish colour, in the case that the surface of the mould is not cleaned during the maturing process. The skin should exhibit the impressions of the moulds or " pleitas " on the lateral surface and a " flower " on the vertical surfaces. Free from all parasites etc.
Cheese: Firm and compact, of variable colour, between a white and ivory yellow, possibly containing unequally distributed patterns. Characteristic smell and flavour.