Queijo Rabaçal

Queijo Rabaçal is a Portuguese cured PDO cheese with a semi-hard to hard paste, made by hand from a mix of ewe's and goat's milk in central Portugal. The paste is dull white with few or no small holes, and ripening lasts at least 20 days. The cheese takes its name from the village of Rabaçal.

The hand-milked ewe's and goat's milk is clotted with animal rennet in 45 minutes to an hour. The curd is lifted by hand into a colander, then a mould, lightly pressed and salted once the whey has drained. After 2–4 days the straps come off and the cheeses mature on shelves: they are washed three times a week, scraped with a piece of tile, a knife or a fig leaf, and wiped with a cotton or linen cloth.

The area covers over 850 km² across the districts of Coimbra (Penela, parts of Condeixa-a-Nova and Soure) and Leiria (Ansião, parts of Alvaiázere and Pombal). The village of Rabaçal appears in documents from 1139. Part of the distinctive flavour is credited to wild thyme called «Santa Maria», which the ewes and goats eat.

Why it matters to you: genuine Queijo Rabaçal carries the name and the PDO mark on the label. It is a cheese from a mix of two milks, which sets it apart from cheeses made only from ewe's or only from goat's milk.