🧀 Queijo Serra da Estrela

Queijo Serra da Estrela is a Portuguese cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), registered in the EU in 1996. According to the single document, it is made by slow draining of the curds after coagulation of unadulterated raw sheep milk from Bordaleira Serra da Estrela or Churra Mondegueira ewes, using cardoon flower (Cynara cardunculus L.) as the rennet.

Ripening. The minimum ripening time is 30 days. When it reaches at least 120 days, the name is qualified as Velho (mature).

Young cheese. A short, flat, uniform cylinder with bulging sides, 0.4 to 1.7 kg, 8 to 20 cm across and 4 to 6 cm high. The rind is smooth and semi-soft. The paste is closed, moderately buttery, compact, creamy and smooth, loses its shape on cutting and has few or no eyes; the colour is white or slightly yellowish. The bouquet is smooth, clean and slightly acidic. Fat in dry matter is 45 % to 60 %.

Velho. 0.3 to 1.2 kg, 6 to 20 cm across and 2 to 6 cm high. The rind is smooth to slightly wrinkled, hard to extra hard; the paste is closed or with some eyes, dry and slightly crumbly, yellowish to orange-brownish and darker towards the centre. The bouquet is pleasant, lingering, strong to slightly strong and slightly pungent or salty.

Feed and area. Only extensive and semi-extensive systems are permitted, and the sheep graze in the region; moving the flocks between pastures within the area is common. All production steps, from the birth of the animals to packaging, take place in the defined area on the Beira plateau in central Portugal (it includes the municipalities of Seia, Gouveia, Manteigas and Celorico da Beira); cutting and packaging must also take place in the region.

Labelling. The label must read QUEIJO SERRA DA ESTRELA – DOP, with the word VELHO for cheeses ripened for more than 120 days. According to the specification, the region and its cheeses were mentioned by Roman authors, described as a food of choice on ships in the Age of Discovery and mentioned in sixteenth-century plays.

Queijo Serra da Estrela belongs to the sections Portuguese cheeses and Protected cheese names; its raw material is sheep milk.