by Sophia Stern, Minneapolis Monger
It’s no secret that the cheese case at France 44 (or any cheese shop) can be overwhelming to navigate. We tend to gravitate towards cheese styles we’ve heard of or tried before: cheddar, gouda, brie, and, often, manchego. Buttery and balanced, herbaceous and tart, manchego is the perfect mix of comfort cheese and dynamic flavor. This week, we’re featuring this familiar favorite and highlighting why, out of the plethora of manchego makers, Pasamontes 3-month and 12-month raw milk manchego has a place in our case.
The reason United States consumers gravitate towards this Spanish sheep cheese is due to a successful marketing campaign by the Spanish government. While many US cheese consumers had heard of brie or parmesan, there was a hole in the market for sheep cheese, especially from Spain. Before the turn of the millennium, the United States imported minimal sheep cheese, except for pecorino from Italy. The US also lacked domestic sheep milk production until the early 1990’s when Vermont Shepard pioneered domestic sheep cheesemaking with their signature Verano. Capitalizing on this gap in the US cheese market, the Spanish government picked an ideal star with manchego. Most manchegos are buttery and accessible, with slightly nutty and grassy notes that aren’t too aggressive, ideal for the curious American palate, unused to the oddities and craveability of sheep milk.
Pasamontes, like all PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) manchegos, is made with the milk of Manchega sheeps in their native region of Spain, Castilla-La Mancha. All sheep milk is high in butterfat, but Manchega sheeps, bred to yield ideal milk over wool or meat, produce particularly tangy and fatty milk perfect for making balanced and craveable cheese. Most importantly, their milk tastes of the land they graze on. This makes the animals and land inseparable from the cheese they create. The La Mancha region is the largest natural region in Spain. Centrally located, the plains of La Mancha, 2,600 feet above sea level, have little rainfall and extreme temperatures from frost in the winter to scorching heat during the dry summer. There are few trees in this arid landscape, but a bounty of herbs, grasses and flowers, which the Manchega sheep graze upon in their pastures.
María Dolores Pérez-Guzmán Palomares is the 5th generation of the Pasamontes family to head the Pasamontes creamery. María makes her manchegos in the same place her great-grandmother started making Pasamontes in 1896. She sources her milk from five local flocks in La Mancha, keeping the shepherding and cheesemaking separate. This system allows the farmers to focus their attentions on the intense upkeep of their animals, while María and her cheesemaker can attend diligently to the tricky cheesemaking process. Pasamontes also keeps their cheesemaking milk raw, ensuring the unique qualities of the land shine in their dynamic, rich cheeses. They ladle the curds of their raw milk into natural fiber molds made of esparto, which gives the Manchego rind its district basket-weave pattern. Unlike other waxy manchego rinds, the Pasamontes rind is completely edible.
Pasamontes is not the somewhat mild and occasionally dull manchego you may have tried wrapped in plastic from the grocery store. Both ages of the Pasamontes manchego have a yogurty, lactic flavor and an herbaceous finish. Pasamontes 3-month is higher in moisture, offering a semi-firm ‘bounce’ to the cheese. At room temperature, the cheese quickly melts in your mouth. While buttery, the grassy, earthy flavors of the milk are strong in this younger cheese. Pasamontes 12-month is much firmer, the flavors far more concentrated in this low moisture form. The 12-month eats like a less-sweet Parmigiano-Reggiano, with extreme nuttiness and high acidity. Both cheeses are perfect for eating by themselves, but would also stand out in any recipe. As we head into Autumn, manchego is a great ingredient for baking dishes like quiches and pairs particularly well with potatoes and leeks. Otherwise, try using manchego instead of parmesan in a chorizo-based pasta dish. If you’re looking for a wine pairing, a fruity red is a good way to go.