Details

This is a very distinctive Basque cheese which has made a big name for itself. It’s made from unpasteurised milk from the Latxa sheep, long cured for 4 months and then lightly smoked.

As you’d expected from a mature cheese, the texture is firm. The taste is powerful and unique. The base is a well developed sheep’s cheese, similar to Manchego, but with raw milk for maximum flavour. However, it’s also smoked for a further taste element. To produce one kilo of this Idiazabal cheese seven litres of milk are needed.

Aranburu carries the Idiazabal D.O.sticker of guarantee and mark of quality.
Awards: Silver World Cheese Awards 2007, Gold World Cheese Awards 2008, Super Gold World Cheese Awards 2015

1Kg Piece / Once opened keep it well wrapped in plastic wrap in a fresh and dark place / 1 year shelf life

Name: J. Aranburu Smoked Idiazabal Cheese

Ingredients: Milk, Salt, Calcic Chloride, Rennet, Lactic Ferments

Net Weight: Approx 1kg

Drained Weight: N/A

Storage: Keep Refrigerated between 1 - 8 degrees

Best Before: See Label

Allergens: Sheep's Milk

Idiazabal is an aged cheese, made exclusively from whole unpasteurized sheep's milk with a minimum of 6% fat.

The milk curdles at a temperature of 25 to 35 °C, with the addition of natural rennet, resulting in a compact curd after 30 to 45 minutes. The curd is cut in order to rice-size grains, and then reheated to 34 to 38 °C. The resultant paste is placed in molds where it may or may not be seasoned before pressing. Salting of the cheese is performed by rubbing the rind with dry salt or immersing the cheese in highly salted water for 24 hours. Finally, the cheeses are aged under cold and humid conditions, avoiding moulding, for at least two months.

Smoking takes place at the end of the aging process, using woods from the beech-tree, birch-tree, cherry tree or white pine. The intensity of the smoked qualities depends upon the type of wood and length of smoking. The cheeses are cylindrical in shape. The rind is closed, smoked, waxy, without mould and amber in colour. Inside the cheese is compact, without air pockets or with only pin-head size holes, and is beige or pale yellow in colour.

The taste is powerful and pronounced; slightly acidic and piquant; buttery and consistent; with a characteristic sheep milk flavour.