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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Spain, Cantabria

Queso Nata de Cantabria PDOQueso Nata de Cantabria

Whole, pasteurised milk of Friesian cows is set with rennet at 30 °C for about 40 minutes, cut to 5 mm grains and rewarmed to 34 °C. The curd is moulded, pressed and brined for no more than a day each, then ripened for at least seven days into a soft, buttery, bone-coloured cheese. Made in 7 steps over 9 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 7 days (Ministerio de Agricultura 1985). Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and subsp. cremoris does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 7 daysSet[boe1985][pliego1996]Ripen
Temperature30 °CSet[boe1985][pliego1996]Add cultures and rennet
Fully documentedCheese9 daysPDO (EU, 1996; renamed from «Queso de Cantabria» by Regulation (EC) 1068/2007)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)More pressed uncooked cheesesMore from Spain

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe rules fix limits, not a recipe. Each cheese weighs 400–2,800 g.
Whole cow milk from Friesian cows, pasteurised · At most 18–20 °Dornic acidity when cheesemaking starts; no caseinate, milk powder or added fat[boe1985][pliego1996]
Animal rennet or other permitted coagulating enzymes · The registration file and ICEX say the rennet comes from suckling calves of the region's own Pinta de Cantabria cows[boe1985][pliego1996][icex]
Lactic cultures · Named in the 1985 rules as Streptococcus lactis and S. cremoris[boe1985]
Drinking water (optional) · Up to 25 % of the milk volume may be added to the curd, after drawing off the same amount of whey[boe1985]
Brine made only with food salt[boe1985]
Starter: lactic cultures (Lactococcus lactis) and rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 9 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: whole milk from Friesian cows

Step 1 of 7
Collect the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
Streptococcus lactis

Only whole milk from Friesian cows on registered farms in the area. Its acidity may not exceed 18–20 °Dornic when work starts.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Queso Nata de Cantabria is a young pressed cheese, ripened only a week or so, which keeps its paste soft and creamy. Its 1985 rules allow some of the whey to be swapped for water, a step shared with washed-curd cheeses, and its milk must come from Friesian cows.

Milk
Whole, pasteurised milk of Friesian cows
Composition
Extra-fat cheese with at least 45 % fat in dry matter
Ripening
At least 7 days after salting
Rind
Soft and bone-coloured
Size
400–2,800 g; rectangular block or cylinder

Related ferments

Safety

The rules require pasteurised milk, which the registration file links to the Spanish rule for cheeses ripened less than 60 days.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The registration file traces organised cheese trading in the area to 1647, when makers sold in Burgos, Logroño, Vitoria and Bilbao and supplied the royal household in Madrid. In 1843 a trader set up a small dairy in the Pas valley, where fresh, creamy cheeses were first pressed mechanically as "pasiego de pasta prensada". A dairy school opened at the Cóbreces monastery in 1908. The name was protected in Cantabria from 1984, ratified in 1985, registered by the EU in 1996 and renamed Queso Nata de Cantabria in 2007.

  1. [boe1985] Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, Orden de 29 de octubre de 1985 por la que se ratifica el Reglamento de la Denominación de Origen «Queso de Cantabria», BOE no. 272, 13 November 1985, pp. 35816–35821gov
  2. [pliego1996] MAPA (I.N.D.O.), Denominación de Origen «Queso de Cantabria», expediente de solicitud de registro under Regulation (EEC) 2081/92 (MAPA copy, read via the Internet Archive)spec
  3. [icex] ICEX, Foods & Wines from Spain, «Queso Nata de Cantabria PDO» product pageweb
  4. [eambrosia] European Commission, eAmbrosia register of geographical indications, entry «Queso Nata de Cantabria» (PDO-ES-0085, EUGI00000012961; protected 21 June 1996; amended by Regulation (EC) 1068/2007)gov