Food

Dom Pedro and his uncle, the refined Duke of Palmelo, greet me in the Portuguese countryside to view their state-of the-art artisanal cheese-making facility, Casa de Calhariz. While the charismatic Pedro seems more interested in talking about scuba diving off the pristine Portuguese islands in the Azores, he does show me around the cheese operation after I cover my shoes with baby blue paper booties.

I’m visiting the Azeitao region, an area of Portugal known for its flavorful cheeses, made from raw sheep milk, salt, and a thistle to separate the curd from the whey. Cheese-making season in the Azeitao is September through June, but the thistle heads are cut off in June and July and left to dry (until their purple color disappears).The micro-climate from the Arrabida Mountains and the grass that grows in this region—the Costa Azul, where shades of blues and greens dominate the landscape—contribute to the distinctive Azeitao sheep cheese. It’s a creamy, semi-soft cheese with a pale yellow rind.

Quality cheese-making requires a good food source, good thistle, and sheep which don’t produce too much milk. Dom Pedro, an unlikely gentleman farmer following a 60-year-old family tradition, tells me “good milk is a complicated thing, and 70% of the cheese is dependent on the milk.” Then with a twinkle in his eye, he adds: ”We have much love with the cheese.”

At another nearby farm, cheese has been made for 100 years. But with the implementation of new EEC (European Economic Community) regulations seven years ago, they stopped marketing it due to the strict environmental requirements and stringent hygiene laws. Today they operate as a cheese museum where you can see the process of traditional Portuguese sheep cheese-making with the flower of the local cardoon thistle acting as a coagulant, rather than animal rennet.

In this lush area in the foothills of the Arrabida mountain range, the sheep eat the fruit of cork trees, making their milk more fatty, which means producing more cheese. There are 230 sheep and two shepherds here, where the arduous process of milking the sheep by hand takes place in the morning. Sheep can produce milk for cheese when they are one year old, but it is preferable to wait until they are two. Farmer Ricardo Couto explains, “Rather than giving an injection to milk the sheep, I prefer to play classical music to relax them before hand-milking.”

At the Cheese Museum, which is a former horse stable dating back to 1643, you can watch the traditional process of cheese-making with the aid of a large pottery urn, a long wooden spoon, and a roaring fireplace. You may view a demonstration or participate in the making of the cheese. At this point though, I’m more interested in the tasting process.

After enjoying several fado performances in Lisbon, as well as the Fado Museum, I’m off to a cheese tasting at the posh Corinthia Hotel, also in Lisbon, as a way to get my bearings on the array of exotic cheeses. Many of the cheeses in Portugal are named after their home region. The Azeitao, Evora and Serra (Serra da Estrela is a rich buttery-tasting, intense cheese from north of Lisbon, produced since the 12th century) are good examples. These areas, known for their sheep’s cheese, are designated DOP (Denominação de Origem or Protected Designation of Origin), protecting the region, its producers, and the flavor of the earth with a special gastronomic title preserving authenticity—the principle is also applicable to wine, olive oil, vinegar, et cetera.

Azeitao cheese is eaten by cutting off the top of the wheel and then scooping out the in side with a spoon. Most of the others are cut more conventionally, and the light rind is often consumed as well. There are ultra-white fresh cheeses, made from cow and goat milk with a softer consistency, a bit crumbly as you cut from the small rindless wheel. I marvel at the freshness of the cheese at the Corinthia and again when stopping in a Lisbon grocery store to sample several melt-in-your-mouth cheeses made within the last two days, sold at amazingly reasonable prices.

The consistency of each cheese is also related to how old it is when eaten. I discover the same semi-soft cheeses become drier and denser as they age, noting my preference for the fresher ones.

Alex Garcia, a cheese taster and affineur (who performs ripening of a variety of artisanal cheeses in New York) combines art, science, and luck by regulating humidity, temperature, and time before selling cheeses such as the Azeitao. “It’s best when runny, but a bit more mature I prefer them at about 90 days old,” he says. While I enjoy the Portuguese cheeses with a slice of hearty bread, I also taste them in other presentations. At the gold-medal-winning winery, Quinta de Catralvos, which doubles as a gourmet restaurant and boutique hotel, Azeitao cheese is served in a quasi-shot glass with a breadstick for scooping it up it also arrives on top of a homemade waffle accompanied by local honey with the consistency of jam. At the lovely Restaurant Azeitao, with its sunflower hued walls and tasteful farm implements as décor, I sample the same creamy cheese with pine nuts and honey.

Back in the countryside, Dom warmly bids me farewell or “adeus”, the Duke hands me a small container of soft, light, creamy sheep butter. Jumping into the car, my translator says, “I told them you don’t have time to take them up on an invitation to visit their palace.” My heart temporarily sinks, but then I spy the butter and cheese, remembering the pot of gold is in my hand. While the Dom and the Duke are left behind, I just say “cheese” and smile.


INFO

Portugal: General Info
http://www.visitportugal.com


Corinthia Lisboa Hotel
http://www.corinthiahotels.com

Quinta De Catralvos
http://www.quintadecatralvos.com

Azeitao Resteraunt
http://www.restauranteazeitao.com

Cheese Farm,
Quinta De Calhariz
http://www.casadecalhariz.pt


Cheese Museum,
Museu Do Queijo De Azeitão
mailto:qvqueijeira@apo.pt


Portugese Cheese In The U.S.

Artisanal Premium Cheese
http://www.artisanalcheese.com

Alfama Resteraunt
(offers a Portuguese Cheese plate and
Wednesday night Fado sessions)
551 Hudson Street, New York
http://www.alfamarestaurant.com