the cheese blog

Quesos de Galicia

I recently did a quick visit to Madrid and Barcelona. While I didn’t have much time to do serious cheese tasting, where I had the opportunity I took it. This is not the best picture, but I was trying to be discreet. This was the selection of Galician cheeses at Taberna Maceiras in Madrid. The plate included five types of cheeses, which I included Tetilla, Queso de San Simón, and Queso de Ulloa Curado.

The Tetilla is a pasteurized cows milk cheese that takes its name from being breast, or pear, shaped. It has a white interior with a firm exterior, that goes from yellow on the rind to off white in the center. The paste is creamy and typically has air holes dotted throughout. The taste is mild, close to a very young Cheddar, but with a fresher taste, more like a Mozzarella.

The Queso de Ulloa is also a made from cows milk (sometimes pasteurized, sometime not). Since this was a Curado, it means it was aged more than 6 months, compared to standard Ulloa which is a fresh cheese. It tasted similar to the Tetilla, but was more bitter.

Queso de San Simón is also a cows milk cheese (again, sometimes pasteurized). There are two sizes. The one I had looked to come from the top of the smaller size, known as the “dunce’s cap”. The smaller size is aged for a minimum of  30 days. San Simón smoked with birch wood. Due to the smoking, the rind is smooth, but tough, with a shiny brown color. The interior is a deep honey color with a smooth texture and small air holes throughout. It has a semi-firm texture. The flavor is definitely smoky, but it is not overpowering.

I think one of the cheeses was Cebreiro, which would be the fresh cheese at the top of the picture. I honestly didn’t care for it. It was bitter and didn’t have much flavor. The shape is quite unusual though. There is a picture here. Everything else was excellent!