Claudia Romeo: Manchego cheese
is made in a part of Spain that is called La Mancha,
which is just south of Madrid, and today we're in Campo de Montiel, which is a region in La Mancha. We're going to visit La
Granja, which is a farm here that's been doing the
cheese for over 200 years. We're going to learn about
its history and making process and find out why it is
Spain's most popular cheese as well as what makes it different from other cheeses in the
world that bear the same name. Evidence of cheesemaking
in La Mancha region dates to the Bronze Age. But cheese is not the only
thing this region is known for. In the 17th century, novelist Miguel de Cervantes
brought the region to fame narrating the adventures of knight-errant "Don Quijote de la Mancha," which is the second
most-translated book in the world, after the Bible. Within the region, manchego cheese is made in the provinces of Toledo, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, and Albacete. Claudia: Finca La Granja
is a fifth-generation family farm that's been making the cheese since the 19th century. Claudia: The dairy makes about 65 wheels of manchego cheese per day. The cheese is made with milk
from the previous evening and morning milk that's fresh. Claudia: The mold is very important because it is what
actually gives the cheese its signature pattern. It's all printed inside. And then, after being placed into molds, the cheese is placed into a press... and it's pressed for about four hours. And after these four hours, it's gonna be moved to brines. Each wheel is labeled with a
unique plaque of milk protein. In the past, manchego cheese used to be shaped in these baskets made of esparto grass. Claudia: After the wheels
are taken out of the brines, they are placed in a drying room. As you can see behind me, we have different blocks of cheese. We have, just here on my right, the ones that were made just yesterday, and then, going forward,
we have two days ago, three days ago, four days ago, up until one month. Claudia: Manchego cheese
matures for at least two months. Cheese that matures from two to six months is called semicurado,
and it becomes curado when the maturation exceeds six months. Claudia: So, next to me is a
5-month-old manchego cheese. This one is semihard, semicurado, they say in Spanish. And we got some slices that
Gabriel has got for us. Smells very nice. Throughout my cheese journey
I learned to become a fan of raw-milk cheese [laughs], so I actually have high
expectation for this one. So nice. It's very good. I like it. It's got some,
like, tangy aftertaste. I think that is because it's been aged for more than the two
months that is the minimum. It's very good. You taste the raw milk. You can taste that this
comes from sheep's milk, and it's not cow's milk, and it has a different texture
as well, in your mouth. And... I like it; it's somewhere
in between crumbly and a bit buttery, so you get both of them,
depending on, you know, when you actually bite into
it and when you chew it. Again, the fact that this one has matured more than the
minimum has made it better. Despite the fact that
the cheese takes its name from the Spanish region
where it originated, other Spanish-speaking countries call their cheeses manchego. So what is the difference? When the Spanish conquistadors
landed in Mexico, they brought with them
the art of cheesemaking, manchego cheese included. Today, Mexican manchego shares very little with its Spanish namesake,
as it is made with cow's milk and is usually matured for a shorter time. But Spanish cheesemakers are not happy to share their cheese's name with others. Within the EU, Spanish manchego cheese is protected by the Protected
Designation of Origin status, which prevents cheeses not from La Mancha from being called manchego. In April 2018, a new
trade deal with Mexico granted the EU exclusive
rights for 340 products with a geographical indication, but excluded Spanish manchego. So at this stage, the two cheeses coexist, and the row is sure to be continued.
