Tribute to Wine Cheese from Albarracín.

Wine is one of the most importants products of Spain due to its cultural tradition and its important meaning on our mediterranean gastronomy and diet. There are those who say, wine started to be produced on the Iberian Peninsula during the Bronze Age.

Thousands years later, the consumption of wine went worldwide and are many, the companies innovating and experimenting with their own products that combined with red wine creating unique result.

At our Quesería de Albarracín, we elaborate Wine Cheese with 100% sheep milk pasteurized.

The final product has been awarded on many national and international events and competitions such as the feria de otoño Biescas, or the world cheese awards, getting the gold medal.

For the cheese, we have an own ranching there in the Sierra of Albarracín (Spain), surrounded by montains, where we breed cattles and take the pure pasteurized sheep milk that we marinate with wine resulting in a special touch with an different soft taste. 

The wedge is excellent for special occasions.

700 gr. Format is excellent for families.

3 kg. Format is for those cheese lovers.

Further information and purchases under our online shop

Hollywood stars are chosing our cheeses!

Ridley Scott recorded part of "The Kingdom of Heaven" in Aragón, "The Bourne ultimátum" from Paul Greengrass chose Madrid, and now the irish Terry George (Hotel Rwanda) has chosen our landscapes for his new movie named "The Promise" set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire.

The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael (Oscar Isaac), a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), and Chris (Christian Bale), a renowned American journalist based in Paris.

Our cheeses to roll on the red carpet.

Concretely Óscar Isaac came to our cheese shop at Albarracin last weekend to know about and buy our products where he was attended by Maribel, one of our workers.

Oscar is one of the main characters of this new big screen that is transforming our city into a true middle age hamlet.

Try the cheeses of the starts here.

Further film information here.

About us!

The cheeses from "Quesería de Albarracín" are being sold in Dubai with Mariscal & Sarroca.

 

Mariscal&Sarroca is an Spanish enterprise headquartered in the Region of Aragón and specialised in selling and exporting gourmet Spanish products,"the flavours of Spain".

It is conquering the Middle East with more than 1000 Spanish products already tasted over there.Among many others, such as the extra virgin olive oil with gold, or with saffron, there are some of the best cheeses from our "Quesería de Albarracín". Our cheeses have been top considered and awarded in many trade fairs and events like the Global Village or the Gulfood Trade Show Dubai. 

Detail in Spanish of the magazine ""Actualidad de las Empresas Aragonesas"" (May 2015)
about Mariscal & Sarroca and Cheeses From Albarracín. 

Our "Don Manuel" and "Blue label" are two of the most popular cheeses sold in these markets. The "Blue Label" cheese has been included at the 101 best cheeses in the world by Culture Magazine in 2013. 

From Quesería de Albarracín we want to especially congratulate Mariscal&Sarroca and thank them for trusting in the quality of our products. They are one of our distributors for the Middle East and in the U.K.

Looking forward to success!

Albarracin, World Heritage City.

Albarracín is a Spanish town, up in the province of Teruel, two hours drive from Valencia, part of the autonomous community of Aragón, and capital of the Sierra de Albarracín Comarca.

A picturesque place, surrounded by stony hills, at 3900 feets above sea level, whoever visits the inner-city, gets instantly transported to the Middle Ages. 

Apparently unspoilt by modernization, walking towards the village evokes somehow a sense of wonder.

In 1961, the city was declared "Monumento Nacional" by the Spanish government. For decades, tourists came and went back home with an aim of repeating their experiences in the future, reason why, many media have considered and promoted the city to be one of the most beautiful villages in Spain.

Its medieval architecture and narrow streets have been proposed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. But we all know, is not only a matter of monuments, but a matter of how its 1075 inhabitans protect their cultural values as brave as their ancestors centuries ago.

Part of the culture and traditions, is the "Quesería de Albarracín". Following the production techniques of generations of shepherds and craftsmen, pair to pair with the most modern food technologies, create one of the most recognised cheeses in Spain. 

Baked potato recipe with cheese from Albarracín

Ingredients:

• 1 Kg potatoes (35 oz)

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup Sheep Cheese from Albarracín Red Label

• 1 teaspoon minced onion 

• 1 teaspoon butter

• 1 litre of milk

• olive oil

• Salt & pepper to taste

Cooking…

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F).
2. Cut the potatoes in 5cm slices.
3. Melt butter and olive oil in heavy pan. Add seasonings to melted butter. 
4. Stir butter and seasonings well. Add potatoes and stir until they are well cooked. Cook until browned, about 15 minutes.
5. Whisk the egg.
6. Arrange potatoe wedges in baking pan. Brush with the whisked egg over potatoes, add onion and cheese from Albarracín shavings on top.
7. Bake 45 minutes at 360ºF degrees. 

Our Cheese

Cheese from Albarracín (Red Label)

After half of the maturation period of minimum 6 months for pieces of 3 kg and 4 months for pieces of 700 g, the result is a product with a so called denomination “Red Label” which presents a golden pale cheese with medium sized cheese holes and a light smell of fermented milk.

If you want to buy the best Spanish Cheese, you are invited to visit our Online Shop. There you will find a wide selection of hard cheese and delicacies from our facilities in Albarracín.

Fried goat’s cheese with green tomato preserve

INGREDIENTS:
Albarracín cheese (creamy goat’s cheese)
breadcrumbs
For 3 kilos of preserve:
2.5 kilos of green tomatoes
1.5 kilos of sugar
1/2 litre of water
the juice of two lemons
a vanilla pod
1 decilitre of rum

METHOD:

Cut the cheese into circles. Coat in breadcrumbs and fry in sunflower oil. To make the tomato preserve (there will be more than you need), scold the tomatoes in hot water and peel. Cut in half and remove the pips and the juice. Boil the sugar and the water together for about 15 minutes until a thick syrup is formed. Add the tomatoes, lemon juice and vanilla. 

Cook on a medium heat, stirring frequently, for 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are translucent and the syrup has thickened. Add the rum and allow to cool. Serve the cheese with the tomato preserve on the same plate.

Source: El gizado sefaradí recipe book

A Silver Medal for Albarracin Cheese at the World Cheese Awards 2013

Albarracin cheese factory is celebrating, once again, an international award. This time, hard cheese from Albarracín has been awarded Silver medal in the World Cheese Awards 2013.

More than 3.000 cheeses from 34 countries participated in the last edition of World Cheese Awards, in different categories, with different types of milk, judged by 250 experts from all over the world.

The awarded cheese from Albarracin is made with a mould used in different cheese factories all over Teruel region, however, each one has its own recipe. In this case, our cheese is made with raw sheep milk.

It is an honour for us to be rewarded by this prestigious event year after year. We are also proud of being able to offer our clients the best quality in all our products.

Thanks for being there and sharing our happines.

We are looking forward to welcome you in Albarracin and in our website.

Spanish tapas - easy recipes with Sierra de Albarracín Cheese

Sierra de Albarracín Cheese

1. Don Mnauel Cheese Tapa

Ingredients:

• Sierra de Albarracin cheese Don Manuel
• slice of bread
• scallion
• tomatoes
• olive oil
• fresh basil (minced)

Preparation:

Saute the scallion with a little oil. Mix together the chopped tomatoes, scallion, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Chop basil and add oil.

To serve, toast slices of bread. Spoon a little tomato topping on to each piece of toast. Tear 5-6 slices of Cheese Don Manuel and put one piece on each slice of bread and spread with the basil oil.

2. Blue Label Cheese Tapa

Ingredients:

• Sierra de Albarracin Cheese Blue Label
• bread
• anchovy
• shallot
• tomato
• oregano

Preparation:

Mix together the anchovy, shallot, choped tomato, and put on each slide of bread, add oregano and cover with slide of cheese.

Bake tapas at 250° for 7 to 8 minutes or until cheese melts.

Enjoy!

...

If you want to buy the best Spanish Cheese, you are invited to visit our Online Shop. There you will find a wide selection of hard cheese and delicacies from our facilities in Albarracín.

Ham and cheese roll recipe

Ham and cheese roll which is great for breakfast or snacks. The ingredients are simple and the procedure is very easy.

You will need:

4 slices Sierra de Albarracin cheese

4 slices ham

1 or 2 eggs beaten
panko breadcrumbs – these are flaky breadcrumbs used in japanese cuisine as crunchy coating for fried foods

Directions

Place 1 cheese slice on each ham slice and carefully roll the ham. Then, dip the rolled ham in beaten egg and coat it with panko bread crumbs. Fry until golden brown.. Then, dip the rolled bread in beaten egg and coat it with panko bread crumbs. Fry until golden brown.

You know you can find us in Albarracin, Teruel, Spain. But if we are too far, here´s a link to our website and the online store.

Recipe adapted from: www.recetaycocina.com

Artisanal sausage roll with cheese and vegetables

Source: Mr Michael Phams en Flickr

Ingredients:

• Shortbread pastry
• Artisanal sausage
• Grated cheese Sierra de Albarracín (choose one)
• 1 onion
• 1 courgette
• Cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper 

Preparación:

1. Peel, chop and fry the onion and the courgette. Cook on a low heat until they get both soft.
2. Strain off the surplus liquid (broth) and keep it apart.
3. Fry the sausages on a high heat so you Brown them a little one the outside while keeping them not so cooked on the inside part.
4. Knead the shortbread pastry with an oval shape.
5. Spread over the shortbread pastry the cheese, vegetables and the cayenne pepper.
6. Add the sausages and season it with the salt and pepper.
7. Fold the shortbread pastry as so making a roll.
8. Put everything in the oven, preheated to maximum temperature during 15 minutes.

Once it´s cooked, you can use the broth previously kept to spread it on top of the roll together with some natural tomato salsa.

Now you just have to enjoy the meal.

Don´t forget that you´ll always have us on our website and also the online store, to provide you some of the most awarded cheeses in Spain.

II Cheese route in Teruel

If you want to be a big cheese, do it in Teruel!

You still didn´t know?

We are about to finish one of the best cheese routes in Spain. It´s located in Teruel region and we couldn´t say no to this chance of sharing our cheeses with all the people coming all the way to our homeland.

The event lasts until this coming Sunday (12^th May) and it includes a tasting provincial route in which a wide-range of cheese and also tapas and dishes with cheese as main ingredient will be served in many different places.

To talk about numbers, more than 30 kinds of cheese are being tasted, among them several of our cheeses Sierra de Albarracin, the places which participate are 41 not just in Teruel city, but also in many villages around it.

In addition, there have been many diverse ludic and gastronomic activities such as “Evenings with cheese”.

Most of our cheeses are included in a big number of the places. Some kinds that can be tasted are our awarded cheeses in the last 3 years of the World Cheese Awards (WCA); super gold, gold and silver medals.

These are:

• Wine cheese (Gold at WCA)
• Golden Label cheese (gold and silver at WCA)
• Silver Label cheese (silver at WCA)
• Green Label cheese with Rosemary
• Blue Label cheese (SUPER GOLD at WCA)
• Black Label cheese 

It may be too late to come this year, but we´ll be waiting for you on next year´s celebration of this wonderful and delicious cheese route  along the region of Teruel, Aragon, capital of the Mudejar art and architecture.

Albarracin, Teruel

Until then, you can meet us in our website and if you get curious about our cheese, it´s possible to order through our online store.

Let´s enjoy cheese together!

The Origin of Cheese

Not long ago this information was the “trending topic” of the world of cheese; there is finally a certain evidence of the origins of cheese and an accurate date of such moment instead of the, until now, lapses taken which could include centuries or even millenniums.

We don´t know if this was the real origin of cheese, but it´s at least the earliest solid evidence of its existence. It was around 7500 years ago in a region that nowadays is Poland.

“Though there is no definitive test for cheese, we found large amounts of fatty milk residue on the pottery shards compared to cooking or storage pots from the same sites” said Richard Evershed at the University of Bristol.

That seems to be enough to prove that some of the sieves found in Poland were used to separate fatty curds from the liquid whey, all of this in a crude cheese-making process.

“It’s a very compelling forensic argument that this was connected to cheese” Evershed said. He also said that the discovery of cheese-making was a  major development for Neolithic people and gave an extra survival advantage since they could get more essential calories, minerals and proteins thanks to this way of milk preservation which was also benefitial to have reserves when food was scantly, specially in winter time.

Cheese also helped to make Neolithic diet a little more diverse. “Food was incredibly dull and monotonous” said Paul Kindstedt, a professor of nutrition and food sciences at the University of Vermont who didn´t take part in the study.

These “Neolithic cheeses” were sure non-perishable and quite pungent. “They wouldn´t be the first choice for many people now, but anyway I´d still love trying them” confirmed Kindstedt.

What´s sure is that the evolution of cheese has been constant since it was first made. Right now there are so many kinds of cheese that trying each one would be almost impossible to imagine.

Here in Sierra de Albarracin cheese factory, we use only fresh sheep's milk obtained exclusively from the livestock owned by the dairy itself, following the strictest standards in terms of nutrition and hygiene. The entire process perfectly balances traditional craft methods with the very latest technological developments.

We are waiting for you in our factory but also in our web, where you´ll be always welcome!

Post extracted from the online National Post

Spanish Snack Board. Surprise your guests!

It´s Friday afternoon and you have some friends coming home by surprise… WHAT TO DO NOW? You can amaze them with a simple but delicious board with some of the most typical snacks from Spain.

Easy, classy and yummy!

What are the ingredients that we´ll need?

The Spanish snacking culture or “tapeo” is based on 4 main pillars. These are; cold meat, cheese, bread & wine.

From here your imagination has no limit, but sometimes the simpler, the better a snack board will be.

We propose the following one:

• Cold meat:
• Spanish “jamón” (cured ham) must never be missing.
• “Chorizo” (hard pork sausage).
• “Salchichón” (salami-type cured sausage).
• Cheese: all kinds of cheese can be used. A number of 4-6 different types would be great. We recommend start eating the softest one. From there keep on tasting a stronger cheese than the previous one. This way people can fully enjoy the flavour of each cheese.
• Bread & Wine – Wine & Bread: The order is not important because both are the perfect and irreplaceable accompaniments. They will be the finishing touch of a perfect cycle of Spanish gastronomy.
• You can also add some nuts and quince jelly to surpass the senses, but that´s an option.

Source: Flickr of Gonmi 

There is one last ingredient that will turn this simple dish into the perfect one in your house: a good conversation with good friends. It makes everything ten times better.

Our cheese offer comprises many different kinds; from creamy to hard ewe cheese, going through goat cheese, wine cheese and more. All of them are rich in flavour and texture.

We encourage you to visit our website and see the entire world that surrounds the production of our cheese. Then you will understand why we are so proud of what we do and also of how we do it.

ENJOY!