🧀 Idiazabal

Idiazabal is a Spanish pressed-curd cheese made only from raw sheep's milk of the Latxa and Carranzana breeds. It is protected in the EU as a PDO. ³ It takes its name from a small Gipuzkoa village where shepherds sold their summer cheese, and it may be smoked or left unsmoked. ³

Milk. According to the specification, the milk comes from registered farms whose only dairy sheep are Latxa and/or Carranzana. It may not be standardised, and nothing may be added except milk cultures, lysozyme, rennet and salt. ³

Making. The milk is coagulated with animal rennet at 28–32 °C, the curd is cut into grains of about 5–10 mm, stirred and reheated to 35–38 °C, then moulded in cylindrical moulds and pressed. Salting is dry or in brine, using only common salt. ³

Ripening. The cheeses ripen at least 60 days from entering the chambers (80–95% humidity, 8–14 °C). A few days before dispatch they may be smoked with untreated natural wood. ³

Look and taste. A cylinder 8–12 cm high, 10–30 cm across and 1–3.5 kg, with a hard, smooth rind from pale yellow or whitish grey to dark brown when smoked. The paste is ivory to straw yellow, with few irregular eyes smaller than a short rice grain. Fat is at least 45% of dry matter. The smell and flavour are intense, milky, with natural rennet and toasted notes, slightly acidic, salty and mildly piquant, with a light smoke note in smoked cheese. ³

Area. Milk, making and ripening all take place in Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Navarre, except the Roncal valley. The name comes from the village of Idiazabal in Gipuzkoa. The EU register gives 1996 as the protection date. Why this name. Finds in caves in Álava and Biscay show shepherding here around 2200 BC. Shepherds moved between winter shelter on the coast or plains and summer pastures in ranges such as Urbía, Aralar and Urbasa, making cheese in their huts. At summer's end, those on Urbía and Aralar sold it at Idiazabal before heading down, and the village's name spread to similar sheep's cheeses. Medieval rules for sharing high pastures survive, and some of those customs continue today. ³

Smoke and soil. Most Idiazabal today is not smoked, though the interpretation centre says that all of it once was: shepherds made and ripened cheese in the same hut where they kept a fire. Smoking is now a choice, made a few days before dispatch. The ground may matter too. The specification records a saying that cheese from sheep on the limy Urbasa and Andía ranges is "sweeter", while the more acid soils of Aralar give a sharper one. It is presented as a saying, not a measurement. ³⁴

Small sheep, careful checks. Latxa and Carranzana are hardy local sheep that give little milk: one breed study reports about 197 litres over a 163-day lactation, of which 163 litres are milked. Tourism sources credit the designation with pulling Latxa back from decline. After ripening, cheeses are analysed for composition and hygiene and judged by an official tasting panel. Only those that pass may carry the label. ⁴⁵⁶

Idiazabal or Manchego? Both are Spanish sheep's cheeses, but Idiazabal is its own PDO with its own specification: raw milk only from Latxa and Carranzana sheep, from Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Navarre, ripened at least 60 days. Another difference is smoke. Idiazabal may be smoked with natural wood a few days before dispatch, yet most of it is not, so do not expect every wedge to taste of smoke. Its paste is ivory to straw yellow with few small eyes, and its flavour is milky, slightly acidic and mildly piquant.

On the pack look for the name “Idiazabal”, the EU PDO symbol (protected designation of origin), the red band with the logo and the numbered casein plate on the rind. “Baserrikoa” means the farm used only its own milk. Smoked and unsmoked versions are both sold, so read the label if you want or avoid smoke. A piece may be cut only in the production area or at a shop counter in front of you. Typical places to find it are a supermarket cheese counter or a delicatessen.

Why it matters to you. Look for the red band and logo on the label and the numbered casein plate on the rind; "baserrikoa" means the farm used only its own milk. Smoke is optional, so check the label if you like or dislike it. The milk is raw and the rennet animal, so it does not suit vegetarians. Cutting is allowed in the production area or at a shop counter in front of you, which helps keep pieces traceable. ³⁶