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Cheese from Basque Country and northern Navarre, Spain

Idiazabal PDOIdiazabal

Raw milk of Latxa and Carranzana sheep is set with animal rennet at 28–32 °C, cut to grains 5–10 mm across, warmed to 35–38 °C, pressed and salted. The wheels ripen at least 60 days at 8–14 °C, and some are smoked over untreated wood a few days before sale.

Fully documentedCheese2 monthsPDO (Denominación de Origen Protegida, Spain)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes temperatures, times and wheel sizes but no amounts. A finished wheel weighs 1–3.5 kg (± 10 %), 10–30 cm across and 8–12 cm high.
Raw sheep milkOnly Latxa and Carranzana breeds; not standardised[idiazabal-pliego-2022]
Animal rennetTraditionally dried abomasum of the flock's own suckling lambs, soaked in salted warm water[idiazabal-pliego-2022]
Lactic cultures and lysozymeThe only other additions allowed besides rennet and salt[idiazabal-pliego-2022]
Common saltDry or in brine[idiazabal-pliego-2022]
Starterlactic cultures (allowed); raw-milk flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactococcusLactobacillusLactococcus lactisLeuconostoc28–32 °C

What changes: Animal rennet sets raw sheep milk at 28–32 °C in 20 to 45 minutes

Step 1 of 7
Rennet the raw milk
Time
20–45 min
Set
Temperature
28–32 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus
Lactobacillus
Lactococcus lactis
Leuconostoc

Output: curd.

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

Raw milk of Latxa and Carranzana sheep is set with animal rennet at 28–32 °C, cut to grains 5–10 mm across, warmed to 35–38 °C, pressed and salted. The wheels ripen at least 60 days at 8–14 °C, and some are smoked over untreated wood a few days before sale. Made in 7 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 2 months (Ministerio de Agricultura 2022) and runs at 8–14 °C (Ministerio de Agricultura 2022). Lactococcus and Lactobacillus and Lactococcus (the starter, a Choozit MM 100 blend of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, cremoris and biovar. diacetylactis, in a four-dairy trial) predominated up to 30 or 60 days of ripening; non-starter lactic bacteria (Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Enterococcus, Streptococcus) rose later do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[idiazabal-pliego-2022]Ripen
Temperature8–14 °CSet[idiazabal-pliego-2022]Ripen
AciditypH 4.9–5.5Set[idiazabal-pliego-2022]Ripen

What makes this one different

Idiazabal may only use raw milk from two local breeds, Latxa and Carranzana. Smoking is optional; it began by accident in shepherds' huts without chimneys and is now done on purpose, over untreated wood, a few days before sale.

Milk
Raw milk of Latxa and Carranzana sheep
Ripening
At least 60 days
Composition
At least 45 % fat in dry matter, at least 55 % dry matter, at least 25 % protein in dry matter, pH 4.9–5.5
Size
1–3.5 kg; 10–30 cm across; 8–12 cm high

Related ferments

Variants

  • Smoked IdiazabalExposed to wood smoke a few days before sale; dark brown rind.
  • Unsmoked IdiazabalPale rind; now the larger share of sales.

Safety

Made from raw milk. The specification requires at least 60 days of ripening before the cheese, or any wedge of it, may be packed. ANSES names Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli as hazards of raw-milk cheeses and tells pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity to avoid them, apart from cooked pressed kinds such as Gruyère.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes (enzyme genes assigned to it by DNA sequencing across the study's milk, cheese and dairy-environment samples; not a test for live cells).

History and sources

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

Shepherds made the cheese in summer huts in the Urbía and Aralar ranges and sold it at fairs; the town of Idiazabal in Goierri gave its name. Medieval rules for shared upland pastures survive. Traditional making ran mainly from March to June.

  1. [idiazabal-pliego-2022] Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación 2022, Pliego de condiciones de la Denominación de Origen Protegida «Idiazabal» (minor amendment of 27 July 2022)spec
  2. [santamarina2024] Santamarina-García G. et al. 2024, Shotgun metagenomic sequencing reveals the influence of artisanal dairy environments on the microbiomes, quality, and safety of Idiazabal, a raw ewe milk PDO cheese, Microbiome 12 (abstract)paper
  3. [santamarina2022] Santamarina-García G, Hernández I, Amores G, Virto M 2022, Characterization of Microbial Shifts during the Production and Ripening of Raw Ewe Milk-Derived Idiazabal Cheese by High-Throughput Sequencing, Biology 11(5):769paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov