Formatge: Catalan Cheese

The Catalan Pyrenees mountains are a perfect place for raising livestock. Here, cows and goats are raised to produce cheeses that are considered a delicacy throughout Spain, and are only now slowly becoming more recognized in the United States and the U.K. The artisanship of Catalan cheese is beginning to slowly promote itself, and Catalunya has become the Spanish region with the most cheese shops in the country.

Some of the more popular varieties are:

Alt Urgell-Cerdanya: From the Catalan Pyrenees region, this cheese has risen to the level of having its own D.O. (ir a denominación de origen), the first Catalan cheese to achieve this recognition.

Alt Urgell cheese is made with pasteurized cow's milk and fermented lactose products and has a creamy and soft, with a sweet ,smooth flavor . To make this cheese, cow's are milked daily, and then the milk is homogenized and pasteurized, only later to be put into tanks. It is produced all year long and must be kept under refrigeration is pressed into a cylindrical shape and later cut into circles.

 

 

Mató de Montserrat: Mató de Montserrat is a fresh cheese (formatge fresc) that is only a few days old. It's made with cow or goat milk, and it's also very popular to make this variety of cheese with a mixture of the two. It doesn't contain any added salt, so it's common to find it eaten as a dessert, topped with honey.

 

 

Tou del Tillers: In the province of Lleida (Lerida in Spanish), in the town of Sort, the cheese on everyone's mind is Tou del Tillers. This cheese is made from raw cow's milk, with just a touch of salt, and the end result is brie-like, covered in a layer of white with a creamy center.

 

Costa Negra: Costa Negra is a creamy cheese that comes from the Pyrenees and boasts a flavor that is a complex mix between sweet and tart. Made with raw cow's milk, the outside rind is black and the inside elastic consistency.

Drap: Drap is a sweeter, milky cheese, slightly tart, made with raw cow's milk from the Pyrenees. Drap comes in two varieties: fresh without rind and white with a yellow rind. This cheese smells like butter.

 

Tupi: Tupi is made with cuajada (a soft fresh cheese, often eaten throughout Spain as a dessert) and goat, sheep or cow's milk Tupí is made with liqueur such as anise, so its sabor is strong and piquant. It's most often sold in clay jars.

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