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Queso de l'Alt Urgell y la Cerdanaya

Cheese made from pasteurised full fat milk of Friesian cows. Cylindrical in shape, with a diamenter of 195-200 mm, and weighing about 2,5 kg. Natural, slightly moist light-brown crust.

Cream-coloured or marble-white paste with, throughout, numerous small, uneven, mechanically

made holes. Soft and creamy consistency; sweet and penetrating aroma. Very characteristic soft,

clear and pleasant taste.

Produced in the municipalities of Alto Urgel and Cerdaña in the provinces of Lérida and Gerona in the central eastern Catalan Pyrenees.

After homogenisation and pasteurisation the milk is curdled for 30 minutes at a temperature of 30 to 33 oC, at which stage the paste is cut and the whey drained off. The resulting solids are then put into moulds and pressed and are kept in brine at a temperature of 10 to 15 oC until they attain the correct degree of saltiness, whereupon they are drained and aired. Curring, in cellars with a temperature of between 11 and 14 oC and a relative humidity of 90 to 96 %, lasts a minimum of 45 days. Aromatic ferments are sprinkled on the crust towards the beginning of the process.

Viticulture was, until the early part of this century, a mainstay of farming in the area. When the damage caused by phylloxera made it necessary to diversify, it was decided to develop animal

husbandry, with natural and artificial meadows repalcing the vineyards and almond-tree groves.

For a few decades the emphasis was mainly on meat production, but it was milk that eventually

emerged as he principal product of the farms concerned. Cheese was at first produced on a small

scale, using traditional methods, but modern techniques have gradually been introduced to improve quality.

In 1940.60, when it was the best-selling cheese in Barcelona and other population centres in

Catalonia, Alt Urgell y la Cerdanya acquired a reputation which lasts to this day. The districts of Alt Urgell and La Cerdanya form a belt of land consisting of a large number of hill and high-mountain valleys crossed by mountain streams and small rivers. The weather is the area is  mainly submediterranean and fairly cold, with clear and fog-free skies, in other words natural conditions which give the plant species in the pastures and meadows special characteristics that are ideal for cattle. The food intake of the cattle gives the milk its distinctive character, and this, together with the manufacturing process, determines the organoleptic characteristics of the cheese.