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Sansueña cheese Homogeneous, Soft and Traditional. Lácteas Zamoro, is a family business. With more than 25 years of experience and dedication to the production of raw milk sheep’s cheese.
With modern facilities, in which it has been able to combine perfectly the traditional methods of elaboration with the adaptation of the new technology and the constant renovation to the demands of the market.
Sansueña cheese
A unique cheese. The main asset that the company has is the cheese itself.
It is an old sheep cheese made from raw milk, marketed under the name CITY OF SANSUEÑA.
But the final result of this unique cheese part of a rigorous selection of the raw material, milk.
Therefore, Lácteas Zamoro has a team of:
• veterinarians who control the health and feeding of sheep from the source
• quality department that daily analyzes each milk input that is made to the facilities.
Another very important asset is that Lácteas Zamoro only makes raw sheep’s milk cheese.
This is their only product, therefore, all research efforts, improvements in quality, development of new formats, are focused on this product, raw sheep’s milk cheese.
The service
It should also be noted, the agility and speed in service in the demands made by their customers, since they understand that a good door-to-door service is a guarantee of quality and that the product will be in the best conditions at its destination .
It is not a secret that to obtain a great cheese you have to start from the best milk.
At Lácteas Zamoro, they apply the experience and long tradition of three generations together with the most advanced techniques for the elaboration of their cheeses, with raw milk from the sheep of their own livestock.
Sheep cheese made with raw milk
In raw cheese the temperature of the milk never rises of 36 º, so the fermentation is done with natural bacteria, avoiding the addition of artificial ferments.
The physicochemical changes, which in the end are responsible for the flavor, texture and aroma, are made by microorganisms and enzymes in a slow and natural way accompanied by the loss of water and the migration of the salt towards the center of the cheese.
Uniform, Manageable and Ancestral
The master cheese maker has achieved a homogeneity in the product throughout the year, using a handmade, but very controlled.
But also in the preparation of this cheese, all manufacturing practices are aimed at preventing whey remaining in the curd.
Through a long pressing that lasts 24 hours and a thorough drying of the curd gets a smooth texture and a very rough palate.
Another particular characteristic of this cheese is “that it does not sting” as Juan Uña tells us, because the spicy flavor would mask the authentic flavor of sheep’s cheese
And it stands out for its hard milk sheep cheese, its natural crust, with a fat content of 55%, maturation of a minimum of 11 months, roughness: medium to strong, which dissolves easily in the mouth leaving an aftertaste great to pair, for example, with a DO Toro wine.
The producer
This cheese is made by Juan Uña Prieto, in its Lácteas Zamoro cheese factory, located in Santibáñez de Vidriales (Zamora). He has inherited the traditional techniques of his ancestors who were shepherds and cheesemakers.
This Agronomist Engineer, is the maximum responsible for this cheese project.
It has incorporated tradition and modernity, which have made its cheese one of the best in Spain.
This cheese is protected by the “Queso Castellano” brand. It comes as a protected designation of origin for the cheeses of the Castilla y León area.
They present very particular characteristics, as much for their continental Mediterranean climate, as for their diverse vegetation and their extension.
These factors make it have a great livestock wealth.
Morphology. Sansueña cheese Homogeneous, Soft and Traditional
One of the morphological characteristics of this magnificent and unique Castilian-Leonese cheese is:
• that in this cheese factory they do not use paints on the bark.
This is covered by a layer of mold that remains when the cheese is brushed, which is minimal. Whereas it is a cheese with one year of healing.
This is due to a very slow healing, without accelerating the process with fast drying.
This small thickness allows the best use of it.
The cut offers a solid appearance with hardly any eye, with a homogeneous color and a continuous non-brittle texture.
At sight it offers a fine eye in its interior distributed evenly and with irregular shapes “eye of partridge”. Characteristics of this cheese so special.
By Ángel Marqués Ávila. Journalist