🧀 Queso de La Serena

Queso de La Serena is a Spanish cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), registered in the EU in 1996. According to the single document it is a matured full-fat cheese, soft to semi-hard, made from the milk of Merino and Lacaune ewes and their crosses.

How it is made. Natural whole milk is curdled with a natural vegetable coagulant from dried cardoon flowers (Cynara cardunculus) at 25–32 °C for 50–75 minutes; the curd is then cut, moulded, salted and matured. About twenty days after moulding the paste often becomes fluid — a phenomenon called 'atortado' — and the cheeses must be handled with care so that the rind does not break.

Area. Milk production, cheesemaking and maturing take place in 21 municipalities in the far south-east of the province of Badajoz (Extremadura), including Castuera, Campanario, Zalamea de la Serena and Cabeza del Buey. Pastures are sparse but of high quality; the sheep also graze cereal stubble.

Appearance. A wheel with flat faces and convex sides, 250 g to 3 kg, height 40–70 % of the diameter, diameter at least 8 cm. Firm rind, soft to firm paste. Fat at least 50 % of dry matter, dry matter at least 50 %, pH 4.9–5.9. The cheeses may be sold in halves or quarters.

Labelling. Labels bear the words Designation of origin 'Queso de La Serena', and each cheese or piece carries a numbered secondary label issued by the Regulatory Board.

Queso de La Serena belongs to Soft cheeses without mould, Cheeses of Spain and Protected cheese names; its raw material is sheep's milk.