🧀 Queso Ibores

Queso Ibores is a Spanish cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), registered in the EU in 2005. According to the single document, it is a full-fat cheese made exclusively from raw milk of Verata, Retinta, Florida, Malagueña and Murciana-Granadina goats and their crosses, reared on holdings registered with the PDO.

Making. The milk is curdled with natural animal rennet at 28–32 °C for 30 to 60 minutes. The curd is cut into 5–10 mm granules, put into cylindrical moulds and pressed for 1 to 3 hours. Salting is dry or in brine, always with sodium chloride.

Maturing. At least 60 days. A cheese made by a producer from the milk of its own goats and matured for at least 100 days may be called ‘Artesanos’ (artisanal).

Look and taste. A cylinder with more or less flat top and bottom and rounded edges, 4 to 9 cm high, 8 to 15 cm across, weighing 400 g to 1.2 kg. The rind is smooth and medium hard, traditionally coated in pepper or oil; its colour runs from waxen yellow to dark ochre, greyish on the natural rind, orange-red when coated in pepper and ochre-yellow when coated in oil. The inside is ivory-coloured, medium hard, moist and creamy, from crumbly to spongy, with a few small holes. The aroma is sweet and mild; the taste is strong, slightly tart, tangy and salty, with a slight goat's milk aftertaste. Fat in dry matter is at least 45 %, dry matter at least 50 %.

Area. The milk is produced and the cheese made in 35 municipalities in the south-east of the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, in the natural districts of Ibores, Villuercas, La Jara and Trujillo. The goats live free-range or semi free-range, with supplementary feed in the periods of greatest need. According to the specification, the cheese was sold every Thursday at the market of Trujillo from 14 July 1465.

Labelling. The label must refer to the PDO ‘Queso Ibores’ and be authorised by the Regulatory Board; cheese for consumption carries a numbered secondary label that cannot be reused.

Queso Ibores or another goat's cheese? What marks it out is the milk and the place: only raw milk from Verata, Retinta, Florida, Malagueña and Murciana-Granadina goats and their crosses, from 35 municipalities in south-east Cáceres. The cheese is full fat, matured at least 60 days, and traditionally coated in pepper or oil, which colours the rind orange-red or ochre-yellow. The taste is strong, slightly tart, tangy and salty, with a slight goat's milk aftertaste, and the inside is creamy, from crumbly to spongy.

Look for the name “Queso Ibores” on a label that refers to the PDO (protected designation of origin) and carries a numbered secondary label that cannot be reused. The cheese is a cylinder of 400 g to 1.2 kg, with a smooth, medium-hard rind, orange-red if coated in pepper or ochre-yellow if coated in oil, and ivory-coloured, creamy paste. One made by a producer from its own goats' milk and matured at least 100 days may read ‘Artesanos’. Sold at cheese counters and specialist cheese shops.

Queso Ibores belongs to the sections Spanish cheeses and Protected cheese names; its raw material is goat's milk.