MAY IN EXTREMADURA, STORKS. AND CHEESE

 

Storks' nest, Trujillo (Extremadura). (Photo by Charlie Gil.)

In the town of Trujillo in Extremadura, the month of May brings baby storks in the belfry and the Feria Nacional del Queso, the most important cheese expo in Spain. 

Cheese festival in Trujillo (Extremadura). (Photo by Ben Searl)

More than a hundred stands set up shop in the grand Plaza Mayor, around the sword-wielding statue of native son, conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Purveying more than 300 varieties of cheese from all over Spain, the fair attracts avid weekend crowds who throng the plaza, sampling bites, comparing notes, buying wedges. 

(Photo by Charlie Gil.)

The cheeses of Extremadura get special billing. Four of them have protected designation of origin (DOP): Torta del Casar and La Serena, both sheep's milk cheeses, and Ibores and Acehúche, goat milk cheeses. 

Lucky me, my son Ben went to the cheese fair with friends and returned with a Torta del Casar. 

The Torta is an unusual cheese. It is made with a curdling agent taken from a plant, Cynara Cardunculus, a wild thistle. (Most cheeses start with animal rennet.) The cheese when fully mature (60 to 90 days) has a semi-rigid rind inside of which the paste is soft and creamy, almost runny. The cheese has a powerful aroma, right on the edge of the proverbial “stinky cheese," and a distinctive flavor, lactate and herbal, with a subtle bitterness from the vegetable rennet. 

Cut the rind and lift the "lid" off the cheese.

How to serve Torta del Casar. Remove the cheese from the refrigerator at least four hours before serving so that it comes to room temperature. Unwrap the cheese. Use a knife with a sharp point to cut the rind all around the top of the cheese. Lift off the rind and save it for storing the cheese later. 

The paste can be spooned right out of the shell. Spread it on bread or toasts. Or, amongst friends, dip breadsticks right into the cheese. Try any or all of the usual  accompaniments for cheese—nuts, dried fruits, honey, jam, membrillo (quince paste), chutney, pickles, onions, apples, grapes, pears. 

Torta del Casar cheese with accompaniments.

Texture of cheese is soft, very stretchy.

Spread on crisp toasts. Top with quince paste (top) or chutney.

Dip breadsticks right into the cheese.

What's the best wine? I liked a fruity white with Torta del Casar.

What to drink with Torta del Casar. We tried fino Sherry, sweet PX, cava, white and red wines. I liked the fruity white wine best with this cheese. Beer and apple cider are also good.  

Once opened, remaining cheese should be stored in its own rind and covered with a damp cloth. (Place it in a tightly-lidded container so it doesn’t permeate everything else in the fridge!) Once broached, the cheese keeps 15 to 20 days, according to the Torta del Casar cheese consortium. The cheese can be frozen. Torta del Casar is produced in small enough pieces that one can be consumed amongst four to six people at a single gathering. 

The cheese can also be used in cooking. The cheese board has published its own cookbook, El Sabor de un Territorio, Recetas con Torta del Casar, featuring recipes created by four chefs. They include a “lasagne” of layered vegetables; a pisto (eggplant vegetable medley) heated in the hollowed shell of the cheese, and onion soup with Torta del Casar. The cookbook by José Andrés, Tapas, A Taste of Spain in America, has a recipe for Mashed Potatoes with Torta del Casar Cheese that calls for the potatoes to be mashed with the cheese, cream, and olive oil. 

Besides the cheeses mentioned, other gastronomic products with DOP from Extremadura: Ibérico ham Dehesa de Extremadura, Pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika), Cereza del Jerte (cherries from the Jerte valley), olive oil, honey, lamb, beef, kid, and several wine denominations.

Chutney is especially good with Torta del Casar cheese. This chutney is made with loquats in place of the mango in this recipe. For more about loquats (nísperos).