Minas cheese

What is Minas cheese?

Minas cheese takes its name from Minas Gerais, the Brazilian state where it has long been made. The authentic artisanal version still comes overwhelmingly from small family farms, and state figures put the number of those producers at about 30,000. UNESCO recognized the cheese as intangible cultural heritage in December 2024.

It is made from cow's milk to traditional recipes. Producers used to mature it in the open air, or, far less often, dry it over a cooker.

Three varieties are traditional: frescal, meia-cura and curado. A newer one, queijo padrão, sits close to frescal but is less juicy, less soft and usually less salty, and it reaches nearly every supermarket in the country.

Frescal is eaten roughly 4 to 10 days after it is made, still white and tender. A good one is juicy and slightly granulated rather than rubbery, with a mild taste, though saltiness swings widely between producers. Curado is ready once the juice has evaporated and the cheese has solidified to a yellowish tint. Its core stays white and is dotted with tiny air bubbles, and the taste runs stronger, often bitter.

Frescal goes rubbery with heat, so it suits sandwiches, pastries and crêpes more than cooking, although it works grilled with soy sauce or with beef and pork. It also pairs with turkey breast and other low-fat cold cuts, cooked onions and tomatoes, rocket and spinach. Curado handles heat well and turns up in pastel de queijo and pão de queijo.

Frescal with goiabada is the classic combination, known as Romeu e Julieta, eaten plain or built into cake, pie and ice cream. Other fruit preserves and doce de leite work the same way.