Rabacal

What is Rabacal Cheese?

Queijo Rabaçal comes from the village of Rabaçal in Portugal's Coimbra district. It has carried protected designation of origin status since 1996. Production has spread beyond the village itself: the cheese is still made by hand to the original recipe in parts of the Serra do Sicó, across the neighbouring municipalities of Condeixa-a-Nova, Soure, Ansião, Pombal, Alvaiázere and Penela.

The milk is a blend of sheep's and goat's milk, set with rennet. The curd goes into cylindrical moulds 10 to 20 cm (4 to 8 in) across and 3.3 to 4.2 cm (1.3 to 1.7 in) high, then it is salted and left to ripen. Most of it is sold as a hard cheese, though a fresh version turns up locally. A cow's and sheep's milk variant is also sold, but it falls outside the DOP.

A finished wheel weighs 0.3 to 0.5 kg (0.7 to 1.1 lb). The rind is smooth and very pale yellow, dry to slightly oily, and the paste inside is almost white. Fat in dry matter runs at a minimum of 45 percent. The taste is delicate and balanced, and it grows stronger and more aromatic as the cheese matures. Much of that aroma comes from the herbs growing in the area.

Since 2010 the village has held the Mercado do Queijo do Rabaçal on a Sunday at the end of April, at the Roman excavation site of the Villa Romana. It works as a small trade fair for Rabaçal products and as a cultural festival with folklore, folk dancing, talks and local food. In 2012 the market drew 54 regional exhibitors, 17 of them cheesemakers.