Idiazabal cheese

Idiazábal [ iðia'θaβal ] is a Spanish hard cheeses with a protected designation of origin ( " Denomination of Origin Protegida " DOP).

The Idiazábal cheese comes from the Basque Country and Navarre. As its name to the cheese the name of the place Idiazábal was elected in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, because this is considered the geographic center of the product area.

It is made from sheep's milk of sheep breeds Latxa and Carranzana, which may be both raw milk and pasteurized milk to. It is a mild to medium spicy hard cheese which is prepared in an unsmoked and smoked cheeses. The smoked version can recognize each other by the yellowish staining, unsmoked cheese rind, however, is rather white. A whole cheese weighs 1-3 kg, with a maximum permissible height of 8 to 12 cm and a diameter of 10 to 30 cm. The minimum content of the fat in dry matter. is 45%.

Every year in the town in Gipuzkoa Ordizia a cheese tasting held in which a jury will select the best Idiazábal cheese. In the sample, a half cheese is eaten, the remaining cheese half will be auctioned in the same place at restaurants and other Mitbietenden and usually achieved rates in the order of € 5,000.