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.

One more year we are happy for attending the III Aragon region cheese tasting-contest, prize included!

During the weekend of 15^th – 16^th June 2013, we had the great pleasure to participate in the III Aragon region cheese tasting-contest, which took place in Biescas, a lovely village in the northern region of Aragon.

We were once again awarded, but this time we had to toe the line and accept the second prize on the category of ewe cheese.  

This time the kind of our Sierra de Albarracín cheese was the black label (100% sheep raw milk, cured hard cheese)

We are proud of our hard work and we have lots of fun during the weekend, surrounded by colleagues from our region, with whome one always learns.

We promise to be there next year and work even harder to get the first prize.

Thank you everyone for trusting in us and you know that you can always find us in our web and also the online store.

ENJOY!

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.

International Livestock Fair FIGAN. Together with PIENSOS SOL

This last March (19th – 22nd) the important livestock international fair at the FIMA location took place in Zaragoza.

The FIGAN (FIma GANadera, ganadería means livestock) collected for the 11th time the newest technological innovations in the livestock-farming sector. The farmers could find the most modern solutions, technical and commercial, to empower the development of their daily activities.

Based on past successful experiences and also because of the ideal logistic emplacement of Zaragoza, there were many farmers gathered there to learn and share knowledge. Among them we were there, the cheese factory Sierra de Albarracín, together with piensos SOL, the most important company in the region that sells high quality fodder for sheeps.

More tan 60,000 people visited the 836 different companies that took place this year at the fair, spread in more than 820,000ft².

This way, FIGAN consolidates its international fame and gets to renew its role as main fair in the world about livestock.

The reason why a little representation of our company travelled with piensos SOL is simple; this company was the origin of what our cheese factory Sierrade Alabarracín means. The cheese factory project started first with the fodder company.

We´ve always said that we take very much care of our sheeps and their nutrition, which we watch very close since we were, first of all, in charge of piensos SOL, then we grew our own sheeps and at the end we became what we are now, a cheese factory that produces some of the most awarded cheeses in Spain.

We are still part of the fodder company and that´s why we couldn´t say no to accompany its team in such important fair for the livestock-farming sector as it is FIGAN in Zaragoza.

It was a great experience with which we got the chance to learn about the newest innovations in our sector. We paid attention to everything but we can´t say that our facilities are old-fashioned at all.

Best regards to those present at this years fair. To all the people who couldn’t come, we just say that we´ll be waiting for you the next year´s edition.

Until then and as usual, you can find us on our website and also on the online store. Cheese delivered at home!

Have a cheeseful day! ;)

1st International Congress of Truficulture in Teruel

Along this week we´ve had the honor of hosting the First International Congress of Truficulture.

Source: coiaanpv

Teruel has been the city chosen to gather the most important truffle experts in the world (France, Italy, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Israel). There, they´ve had 4 days to discuss and learn old and new techniques of cultivation and crop of the considered black diamond of gastronomy.

The two main objectives have been:

1. Share knowledge among researchers, managers and producers about the new scientific discoveries in the field of truffles. They also wanted to promote a sustainable production of truffles in many different territories.
2. Transfer worries and initiatives of the scientists with the truffle professionals, specially the inhabitants of Teruel, where 20% of the global production happens.

If you want to know what they´ve been doing, here´s a link to the program.

Because it was such a great event taking place so close from us, we couldn´t resist and decided we had to be there. Here is a picture of our stand, FULL OF CHEESE; a cheese lover´s dream come true.

In Quesería Sierra de Albarracín, we didn´t go mad and decided we are going to change our business. We still love cheese too much, but we are proud to share with you this event that has taken place so close from us, in our home.

Apart from that, we´d like to remind you one of our gastronomy suggestions in this blog, the cheese cubes with truffles and olive oil. Everybody knows that the Mediterranean Diet is healthy and good for you, but we don´t think anybody knows how delicious it can really be until this easy dish is tried.

Our cheese advise depends on each person´s taste; We have our soft Blue Label cheese for delicated palates. If you rather stronger flavours we recommend Golden Label or Silver Label, both hard cheeses full of different nuances.

Please, remember you will always be welcome in our home, Albarracín and, if it´s too far from you here you have our web and online store.

See you soon and enjoy your meal! ;)

SAY IT WITH CHEESE!

This Valentine´s Day be original and give your lover a tender heart… A CHEESE HEART!

It won´t only be a surprise, but something that you both will be able to enjoy. A delicious and soft cheese, made with love.

This cheese “Corazón de Amante” (Lover´s Heart) is made with pasteurized milk. Its texture is creamy and the rind is yellow, specific to cheeses with short periods of maturing processes.

With its soft touch and curious shape, “Lover´s Heart” is a whim for the senses.

You can accompany it with a soft red or rosé wine and some croutons to make a perfect snack of it. Tasty, complete and romantic!

Flowers are old-fashioned! Let your love for cheese invade you and share it with your beloved ones.

Happy Valentine´s Day!

You can also visit us on our web and online store. 

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