Spanish Cheese Cabrales Mini
Cheese Cabrales Mini is a natural cheese, hand-crafted by farmers themselves, with raw cow's milk or a blend of two or three kinds of milk: cow, sheep and goat. All milk used in the production comes exclusively from herds located in the area of production and controlled by the Regulatory Board. Once elaborated, the cheese is taken to mountain caves to mature between two and four months.
In the caves, the relative humidity of 90% and the temperature between 8 °C and 12 °C promotes the growth of molds of type Penicillium during the cheese maturation, which this yields the zones and veins of blue-greenish color. The taste is slightly spicy, more pronounced when made with goat and sheep pure milk or blended.
When you look at a Cheese Cabrales Mini you can see that it hardly has any bark, as it has a creamy surface and shape similar to the soft interior. When mature is has a blue-greenish color and the mass is creamy, with a very strong odor. The cheese will be more or less yellow the higher the amount of cow's milk has been used, but usually has a rather white tone. Cheese Cabrales Mini has a creamy consistency, with different degrees of cohesion, according to the degree of fermentation of the cheese, which is compact and without eyes.
This Spanish cheese is considered by many one of the world's best blue cheeses, Cheese Cabrales Mini is one of the most traditional foods of Spain. Its production is controlled by the Protected Designation of Origin which it won in 1981 and its production area is made of the Council of Cabrales and some towns of the Council of Peñamellera Alta, both in Asturias.
The milk to elaborate Cheese Cabrales Mini comes from herds of cows, sheep and goats grazing in the mountains of Asturias. Raw cow's milk is mixed with other types of milk, which may be of goat and sheep. Cattle farmers make the cheese at home, leave it to air for four weeks in ventilated areas and then put it between two and four months to cure in natural caves of the Peaks of Europe.