🧀 Queso Majorero

Queso Majorero is a Spanish pressed-curd cheese made from the milk of Majorera goats on the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. The name is protected in the EU as a PDO, registered in 1998 (eAmbrosia PDO-ES-0045).

According to the specification, the milk comes from Majorera goats; for cheeses meant for ripening, up to 15 % milk from the Canarian sheep may be added. The milk is set with rennet, preferably from dried kid stomachs, at 28-32 °C, the curd is cut and drained, put into moulds that imitate the traditional woven palm-leaf pattern, and salted with sea salt, in brine or dry.

The cheese is a cylinder 15-35 cm across, 6-9 cm high and 1-6 kg in weight. By ripening it is tierno (8-20 days), semicurado (20-60 days) or curado (over 60 days). The rind carries the mould imprints; it is white and almost absent in tierno and yellowish brown in curado, and may be rubbed with paprika, oil or gofio. The paste is compact and creamy, white to slightly ivory, usually without holes, with a slightly acidic and a little piquant taste.

All stages take place on Fuerteventura. Each cheese is guaranteed by a numbered back label issued by the Consejo Regulador. The specification cites the chronicle Le Canarien as the first written mention of cheese on the island.