A truly magnificent obsession: Serra da Estrela Cheese

After a six month hiatus, Serra da Estrela (aka Queijo do Serra) is back in stores. If you haven't tried this artisanal ewe's milk cheese from the mountainous Biera region of Portugal, and are a fan of gamey cheese that strongly tastes of its terroir, this is a must.

Priced anywhere from $18 to $30/lb (depending on the value of the Euro and shipping method), Serra da Estrela can be purchased in small 500g wheels or larger 750g wheels. The cheese is coagulated with cardoon thistle, a method unique to southern Mediterranean countries where cardoon and artichoke thistle grow. Other examples would include Portuguese Azeitao and Spanish Torta de la Serena, both made from ewe's milk, and, as Antonius mentions, Marzolino from Campania and Southern Lazio in Italy.

The cheese is only produced from November to March, when the ewes are milking. It is a DOP cheese - Denominação de Origem Protegida - which is similar to France's AOC. A cheese labeled Serra da Estrela will be raw, coagulated with thistle, made around Biera, and follow strict cheesemaking and aging guidelines. If it does not fit the DOP requirements, it cannot be called Serra. Non DOP Serra can have several names. One non-DOP Serra (made in another region or made in a size outside of the DOP requirement) is called Mondegueiro.

The wheaten paste is smooth, unctuous and semi-spreadable. Cheeses that are coagulated with thistle tend to be softer for longer, getting softer as they age rather than harder. If left in too dry an environment, however, the cheese does harden. Most of the Serra da Estrela in the US arrived here via boat, and has spent quite a bit of time in cold, dry, warehouses, which adversely impact texture and flavor. The flavor is slightly gamey, herbaceous (from the wild herbs the long horn sheep graze on), and buttery, with hints of burnt toffee (a characteristic of ewe's mlk).

A wheel of Serra da Estrela should be purchased whole and shared with friends and family. The top is sliced off, and the paste is spread on bread with a spoon. It can be enjoyed on its own or with pumpkin-pine nut spread, tomato jam, or anything of your choosing. If your Serra is hard, it can be sliced and eaten as you wish. I prefer my Serra soft - a quick cheese squeeze will determine whether or not the cheese is soft. Always squeeze your cheese!

I'm not sure where it is available locally, but I'd be careful. I am all too familiar with one of the main importers of Serra, who tends to not treat the cheese as carefully as they should - the cheese is sometimes too old and hard, sometimes just right. I do know that Artisanal Cheese in NYC air freights their products in and ages it in the same room with their fleurie-mold ripened cheeses (brie, etc). Murray's also imports it, but I'm not sure if it is by boat or plane. If you have never tried this cheese before, I advise caution - if your local cheese appears soft, by all means, give it a try. But if it is wrapped in plastic and sitting in a case, pass it by.


I just bought a wheel from my former employer, who gets it via plane but stores it in a very cold, very dry warehouse. I'll try to get some pictures up.

If you see it around town, do post where you found it.

Queijo,

Sounds like a cheese I could go for; I will keep an eye out for it.

It's interesting that cardoon is used as the veg rennet coagulating agent -- I've found cardoon at Caputo's, and make it sometimes with cream sauce. I did a quick search and turned up more about coagulating with cardoons at http://www.actahort.org/books/660/660_27.htm

"Always squeeze your cheese." I'll remember that.

Hammond

Queijo:

Thanks for the alert and for the discussion of Serra da Estrela; I confess to knowing not too much about Portuguese cheeses and knew nothing of this one before reading your post. It sounds interesting as well as good and I hope I come across it.

I have a question concerning the use of cardoon as a coagulating agent. You mention that there is something unique to the method used in Iberia and I was wondering what that was. Use of the cardoon itself in cheese making is known elsewhere: David's link indicates its use in Algeria and in Italy cardoon and wild artichoke flowers have long been used widely, with the practice being attested there already in classical times. As I understand it, in Italy the vegetal coagulating agent is used especially in certain areas (esp. where the plants occur naturally) but also to achieve specific qualities in the final product. For example, in the cheese producing area of northern Campania and southern Lazio (where cardoons and artichokes are plentiful), it's used in the casë 'e marzu or marzolina -- goat cheeses made in the spring -- but not in most of the other cheeses (mozzarella, caciocavallo, provola, pecorino).

Anyway, any further information on this topic would be welcome, and I hope you'll offer us more such write-ups of interesting and less well-known cheeses.

Antonius

Antonius:

Glad you enjoyed the post on Serra.

I appreciate you pointing out that some cheeses in Italy and Algeria are still made with cardoon thistle and will update the OP to reflect this - the world of cheese is infinitely interesting and that after nearly 10 years of obsessive cheesemongering I have learned something new illustrates that!

As far as use in Italian cheese goes, it is the exception rather than the rule, whereas in Portugal the best known cheeses -- but not all cheeses --are made with cardoon thistle.

I pulled out my favorite Italian cheese book, Formaggi Italiani, which I highly recommend for those who can read Italian or cheese Italian, with the idea of looking up coagulants in some of my favorite cheeses (you can find more information on the book and the family who publishes and ages incredible cheeses at www.guffantiformaggi.com ).

The answers are completely unsurprising-- cheeses of Northern Italy, eg Asiago, Bagos, Bitto, the various goat cheeses under the "Roccaverano" banner, Parm-Regg etc. are coagulated with the traditional coagulants - obviously in areas where cows graze in high pastures and the weather is cooler, the most available coagulant would be animal-based (The extreme version of this is Callu de Crabbetu...we can discuss this in another thread). Modern cheesemaking sometimes allows for the use of microbial or vegetable rennet, but if DOC or DOP, there are specific rules which prohibit the use of coagulants outside of the original recipe.

I did find a reference to coagulating with "fiori di cardo o di carciofo" -- which absolutely fascinated me, as I have never seen reference to the use of artichoke flowers - rather than cardoon - in coagulation. I tried to look up specific cheeses but found nothing -- admittedly Formaggi Italiani is very northern Italy-biased - but very good, nonetheless.

The Marzolino that I have had from Northern Italy were produced from vegetable rennet -much less expensive than animal. There are many commercial Marzolinos from nothern Italy, which I'm sure don't compare in quality or flavor to those from Campania and Lazio. I would absolutely love to try some of those and see how they taste as I've only had sheeps milk cheeses coagulated with thistle.

Thanks for the insight!

On a quick trip to Philly, I managed to sneak in a trip to DiBruno's. Specifically, I had hoped to get some of the Serra da Estrela. They didn't have any at that location , a pity since I was looking forward to a quick squeeze of the cheese. Still I came away with excellent buys – artisan Cabrales, Hoch yBrig, cheeses I like. Also some pecorino al tartuffo, a semisoft cheese from Umbria. I was hesitant, thinking it wouldn't do justice to either the cheese or the truffles (and I know Umbria isn't a hotbed for truffles), so perhaps it was my low expectations that gave way to the pleasant surprise. A bit expensive, but having sampled it, I acquiesced to picking up a small piece – it enhanced greatly later a wonderful breakfast with (not in) an omelette (I'm still trying to clock one under sixty seconds).

I write this post mainly to declare what was highlight of the trip to DiBrunos, with the intention of looking for it here in Chicago: Nevat con Pujol
This soft, somewhat runny brielike goat cheese, though not particularly goaty as chevres tend to be, has a great aroma and a wonderfully long and complex creamy taste.

The DiBruno's label wrote:NEVAT CON PUJOL
Milk Type: GOAT
Country: SPAIN

Con Pujol handmakes these nevat – "snowed" – cheeses by hand, turning light goat curd and covering with a brielike candium mold rind. The heart remains leafy with a citrus tang, while the rind promotes a rich moist layer during aging.

Wine: Dry or Sparkling Whites

$19.99/lb.

The cheese itself looks pretty ugly, a grey round mass with whitish crustlike bits all plopped as if from a bovine behind on a wooden tray. Great aroma as I said – I don't know how many farting feet it would rate on the Hammond Pong Index (maybe a few toes). With cheese it never ceases to amaze me how something that looks so godawful and smells unpleasant can taste so divine.

A mention of Nevat con Pujol on the web (scroll down to #83)


Di Bruno Bros.
Italian Market
930 S. 9th Street /(9th & Washinton)/
Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-922-2876

http://www.dibruno.com/