Idiazabal cheese

Idiazabal
Other names	Basque: Idiazabalgo gazta
Country of origin	Spain
Region	Basque Country
Source of milk	Ewes
Texture	Hard
Certification	D.O. 1987

Idiazabal is a pressed cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk, usually from Latxa and Carranzana sheep in the Basque Country and Navarre, Spain. It has a somewhat smokey flavor, but is usually un-smoked.

The cheese is handmade and covered in a hard, dark brown, inedible . It is aged for a few months and develops a nutty, buttery flavor, eaten fresh, often with quince jam. If aged longer, it becomes firm, dry and sharp and can be used for grating.

The Denomination of Origin for Idiazabal cheese was created in 1987 and defines the basic regulations for the product's manufacture. Typically, unpasteurized milk from latxa breed of sheep is used, although in some cases the D.O. permits the use of milk from Carranzana breed, from the Encartaciones in Biscay. The D.O. also stipulates that the milk be curdled with the natural lamb rennet, and permits external smoking of the cheese. The cheeses produced in the following towns in accordance with all the D.O. regulations, are therefore also protected by the Idiazabal D.O. : Urbia, Entzia, Gorbea, Orduña, Urbasa and Aralar. Recently some Basque Country farmers have begun to use hybrid Assaf sheep, which some maintain does not meet the Denomination of Origin for the cheese.

Idiazabal is an aged cheese, from semi-cured to cured, made exclusively from whole unpasteurized sheep's milk. It is produced by strong enzymatic coagulation. The pressed paste can be either uncooked or semi-cooked. It can eventually be externally smoked.

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