cheese
Queijo Serra da Estrela
By Maria Santos
Portugal's most famous cheese, a buttery, semi-soft sheep's milk cheese from the Serra da Estrela mountains.
Queijo Serra da Estrela is Portugal's most celebrated cheese, made exclusively from raw milk of the Bordaleira Serra da Estrela sheep, coagulated using thistle flower rather than animal rennet. This gives the cheese its distinctive creamy, slightly bitter character.
When young, the cheese has a flowing, almost liquid interior scooped out with a spoon. As it ages, it firms with intensified flavours. Production is limited to the Beira Interior region with PDO status.