stlbites.com – st. louis food blog of bill burge

Let’s Talk About Cheese: Malvarosa

Nov 14, 2007 general food, groceries

I am noticing the more I post and actually document some of the meals I make that my childhood love affair with cheese has clearly progressed into my adult life. I don’t think there is a single day that goes by that I do not eat at least some kind of cheese, and with places like The Wine and Cheese Place and Whole Foods having such astonishing selections, it’s certainly a lot easier to give in today than it was in the days when fake, fluorescent-orange rinded muenster or Borden minis were the most exotic cheeses to be found at the market.

In my last post I used Malvarosa which I’m banking on most people not having had before.

Malvarosa is a Spanish sheep’s milk cheese. What that means for you, is that it’s high in fat as the general rule of thumb with cheese is that they go goat > cow > sheep in order of leanest to fattest.

Supposedly a semi-soft cheese, I’ve personally found it to be an incredibly firm cheese that when cold is even harder than a Parmesan.  Because of this you really should let it come up to temperature a bit before risking your precious fingers by going to battle sharp knife in hand. Its color is white and it’s a particularly interesting cheese because as they hang it in cheesecloth as it cures, it has the distinct indentations of the cheesecloth including a knot on top.  And it has a very buttery taste and texture do to the high fat content.

Murray’s Cheese has this to say:

First imported to the U.S. in August of 2004, Malvarosa began as a labor of love. To save the nearly extinct Guirra sheep, Valencian cheesemaker Enrique began producing this Manchego-like wheel. Frankly, we think it blows Manchego away. The paste is firm, but far more buttery, and incredibly rich and sweet. More like the popular favorite Pyrenees Brebis, this one is compulsively edible, down to its nearly butterscotch finish. Aged for a minimum of three months; careful cheesemaking and gentle pasteurization preserve an enormous hit of succulent flavor.

I agree, it’s definitely better than most of the Manchego I’ve had.

As an aside, when I use hard cheeses like this in salads I often peel off thin slices with a vegetable peeler in advance. They’re so thin they come up to room temperature faster (which you want your cheese to be), you don’t have to risk those digits, and aesthetically, they toss into salads nicely looking a whole lot slicker than grated cheese.

Go buy some cheese already.

Tags: cheese, malvarosa