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Cheese from Spain, Canary Islands, north-west Gran Canaria

Queso de Flor de Guía PDOQueso de Flor de Guía

Milk of Canary Island sheep, with up to 40 % cow and 10 % goat milk, is curdled at 28–35 °C with an extract of dried cardoon flowers instead of animal rennet. The curd is cut to rice-to-chickpea size, pressed in a hoop whose base may carry a flower pattern, salted and ripened at least 15 days. Young cheeses are creamy, sour and bitter; long-ripened ones are hard, sharp and coated with oil, paprika or gofio.

Fully documentedCheese16 daysPDO (EU, 2010); covers three names that differ by coagulantFamily: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specifications fix limits, not a recipe. The two documents disagree on size. The 2009 EU single document gives 0.5–5 kg and 15–30 cm across; the 2007 specification gives 2–5 kg and 22–30 cm (20–30 cm for Queso de Guía).
Canary Island sheep milkAt least 60 %[guia-sd2009]
Milk of Canary Island cattle or their crossesUp to 40 %[guia-sd2009]
Milk of Canary Island goat breedsUp to 10 %[guia-sd2009]
Cardoon flower extractWater extract of dried flower heads of Cynara cardunculus var. ferocissima and Cynara scolymus; the only coagulant for Flor de Guía, at least 50 % of it for Media Flor[guia-sd2009][guia-spec2007][rincon2017]
Washed saltAt most 25 to 30 g per 100 litres of milkOptional salting of the milk; sea salt on the cheese for about 24 hours[guia-spec2007]
Animal fat or edible vegetable oil, paprika or gofio (optional)Rubbed on cheeses ripened over 60 days[guia-spec2007]

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: sheep milk from flocks grazing the Guía highlands

Step 1 of 6
Milk the flock in season
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Only cheese made from January to July qualifies, while the sheep graze inside the area. When the sheep dry off, mostly from August to December, the flock is driven to graze outside it (transhumance).

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

At a glance

Milk of Canary Island sheep, with up to 40 % cow and 10 % goat milk, is curdled at 28–35 °C with an extract of dried cardoon flowers instead of animal rennet. The curd is cut to rice-to-chickpea size, pressed in a hoop whose base may carry a flower pattern, salted and ripened at least 15 days. Young cheeses are creamy, sour and bitter; long-ripened ones are hard, sharp and coated with oil, paprika or gofio. Made in 6 steps over 16 days. The longest step, ripen, turn and rub, takes at least 15 days (Gobierno de Canarias 2007) and runs at 4–18 °C (Gobierno de Canarias 2007).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 15 daysSet[guia-spec2007][guia-sd2009]Ripen, turn and rub
Temperature4–18 °CSet[guia-spec2007]Ripen, turn and rub

What makes this one different

The milk is set with an extract of dried cardoon flowers, as in Torta del Casar and Serra da Estrela. Cow milk may be mixed into the sheep milk, and the cheese is made only from January to July.

Milk
At least 60 % Canary sheep milk; up to 40 % cow and 10 % goat milk
Coagulant
Cardoon flower only (Flor de Guía); at least 50 % cardoon (Media Flor); animal or plant rennet or other authorised coagulants (Guía)
Ripening
At least 15 days; semi-mature 15–60 days, mature over 60 days
Size
Cylinder 4–6 cm high (Media Flor and Guía 4–8 cm). The 2009 EU single document gives 15–30 cm across and 0.5–5 kg; the 2007 specification gives 22–30 cm across (Guía 20–30 cm) and 2–5 kg.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Queso de Media Flor de GuíaAt least 50 % cardoon coagulant, the rest other authorised rennets; 4–8 cm high.
  • Queso de GuíaAnimal rennet, plant rennet or authorised cultures; curdled at 30–38 °C for at most an hour.
  • ArtesanoMade from raw milk of the maker's own animals.

Safety

Cheeses made with raw milk from the maker's own animals may be labelled "artesano". ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity to avoid raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones such as Comté.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (risks ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses).

History and sources

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

The EU single document says flocks and herds of Canary Island breeds were present in these three municipalities before 1526; the 2007 specification gives 1526 as the year the town of Guía was created. The single document attributes the flower-cheese tradition to the native Spanish population that settled on the Guía plateau and says cheesemakers guarded their secret as a treasure to leave to their children. The 2007 specification cites Fray José de Sosa, who in 1678 wrote of the excellence of the cheese made in Guía. The single document adds that an agricultural market, visited mainly by farmers and cheesemakers of the surrounding area, grew up in Guía by the end of the 19th century.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [guia-sd2009] European Commission 2009, Single document, 'Queso de Flor de Guía'/'Queso de Media Flor de Guía'/'Queso de Guía' ES-PDO-005-0605, Official Journal C 315, 23.12.2009spec
  2. [guia-spec2007] Gobierno de Canarias 2007, Pliego de condiciones de la DOP "Queso de Flor de Guía y Queso de Guía", Boletín Oficial de Canarias no. 65, 30 March 2007 (national-stage specification)spec
  3. [rincon2017] Rincón A.A. et al. 2017, Influence of vegetable coagulant and ripening time on the lipolytic and sensory profile of cheeses made with raw goat milk from Canary breeds, Food Science and Technology International 23:254–264 (abstract)paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov