São Jorge cheese
| Queijo São Jorge | |
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| Other names | São Jorge Cheese |
| Country of origin | Portugal |
| Region | São Jorge (Azores) |
| Source of milk | Dairy cattle |
| Pasteurised | No |
| Texture | Hard; Semi-Hard |
| Fat content | Minimum fat content of 45% |
| Dimensions | 25–35 centimetres (9.8–13.8 in) diameter and 10–15 centimetres (3.9–5.9 in) height |
| Weight | 8–12 kilograms (18–26 lb) |
| Aging time | Minimum 3 months |
| Certification | Denominação de Origem Protegida (DOP), attributed to Queijo São Jorge. |
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São Jorge Cheese (Portuguese: Queijo São Jorge) is a semi-hard to hard cheese, produced on the island of São Jorge, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, certified as a Região Demarcada do Queijo de São Jorge (Demarcated Region of the Cheese of São Jorge) and regulated as a registered Denominação de Origem Protegida (Denomination of Protected Origin).
The beginning of the cheese sector began at the time of the islands' settlement, with transport of domesticated cattle. The historian Gaspar Frutuoso noted that after colonization on São Jorge, "On it were dairy cattle, sheep and goats, from which they make many cheeses all year, which is the best of all the islands of the Azores, because of the pastures..." The connection between the quality of the cheese and the pasture-lands was confirmed over history, by studies by agronomists.
The climatic conditions and their effect on pasture-lands meant that there was more milk production then was needed for a subsistence economy. The inhabitants, therefore, resorted to the manufacture of cheese as a food reserve and manner of using excess milk production. Moreover, the cheeses of São Jorge (beyond the skill and knowledge of Jorgense cheese-makers) was attributed to the natural intercropping of grasses and legumes, that characterized the middle altitude areas.
Over the course of settlement, though, the presence of Flemish settlers (among the first settlers, captained by Willem van der Haegen) influenced the direction that cheese production advanced. These colonists found that the higher altitude similar to their former lands, which were used for cattle-raising and dairy grazing.
José Pereira da Cunha da Silveira e Sousa Júnior, an agronomer and one of the largest producers of cheeses in the 19th century, wrote (1887) that:
This implied, witnessed by the municipal records and the island's monasteries, that by the middle of the 18th century, the production of cheese had expanded significantly, exporting to the rest of the islands in the archipelago and abroad, that included the queijo da terra (the embryonic Queijo São Jorge), that was similar to the Flemish cheese at the time.
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Wikipedia