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Cheese from Portugal, Baixo Alentejo

Queijo Serpa

Unadulterated raw ewe milk is set with an infusion of cardoon flowers. The curd drains slowly, is moulded and salted, and the cheese ripens for at least 30 days. Young Serpa is so buttery it can spread when cut; Serpa Velho, ripened over 180 days, is semi-hard to hard.

Fully documentedCheese30 daysPDO (DOP, registered 21 June 1996; amended 2025)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe single document gives no amounts. Cheeses range from 200 g, 10 cm across, to 2.5 kg, 30 cm across.
Raw ewe milkUnadulterated, from the defined area only[oj-2025]
Cardoon flower infusionCynara cardunculus flowers; the only coagulant allowed[oj-2025]
Salt

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw ewe milk, with nothing added

Step 1 of 5
Start with raw ewe milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: unadulterated raw ewe milk.

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

Unadulterated raw ewe milk is set with an infusion of cardoon flowers. The curd drains slowly, is moulded and salted, and the cheese ripens for at least 30 days. Young Serpa is so buttery it can spread when cut; Serpa Velho, ripened over 180 days, is semi-hard to hard. Made in 5 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 30 days (European Commission 2025). Lactic acid bacteria, mainly Lactobacillus paracasei/casei in cheeses from PDO producers; Lactococcus is the main genus by sequencing (about 40–60 %), then Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysSet[oj-2025]Ripen
Temperature30–31 °CReported[alvarenga2021]Set with cardoon infusion
AciditypH 5–5.2Measured[araujo2022]Ripen

What makes this one different

Serpa is set with cardoon flowers, not animal rennet, and is ripened at least 30 days for a soft, buttery paste that can run when cut.

Composition
Fat 45–60 % of dry matter; moisture in non-fat solids 61–69 % (Velho 56 % or less)
Size
200 g to 2.5 kg; from 10 cm across and 3 cm high to 30 cm across and 8 cm high

Related ferments

Variants

  • SerpaRipened at least 30 days; buttery, may flow when cut.
  • Serpa VelhoRipened more than 180 days; semi-hard to hard; may be coated in colourless paraffin.

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened at least 30 days. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

History and sources

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

The cheese was registered as a PDO on 21 June 1996. The 2025 amendment added Serpa Velho (matured more than 180 days), adjusted the weight, diameter and height ranges, made a casein label mandatory, named cardoon flower as the coagulant, allowed a protective coating, and corrected the area to include the parish of Ermidas do Sado.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [alvarenga2021] Alvarenga N., Martins J., Caeiro J. et al. 2021, Applying computational fluid dynamics in the development of smart ripening rooms for traditional cheeses, Foods 10(8):1716paper
  2. [araujo2022] Araújo-Rodrigues H., Martins A.P.L., Tavaria F.K., Santos M.T.G., Carvalho M.J., Dias J., Alvarenga N.B., Pintado M.E. 2022, Organoleptic chemical markers of Serpa PDO cheese specificity, Foods 11(13):1898paper
  3. [oj-2025] European Commission 2025, Communication of approval of a standard amendment, 'Queijo Serpa' (PDO-PT-0260-AM01), single document, Official Journal of the EU C/2025/5172, 23 September 2025spec
  4. [goncalves2018] Gonçalves M.T.P., Benito M.J., Córdoba M.G., Egas C., Merchán A.V., Galván A.I., Ruiz-Moyano S. 2018, Bacterial communities in Serpa cheese by culture dependent techniques, 16S rRNA gene sequencing and high-throughput sequencing analysis, Journal of Food Science 83(5):1333–1341 (abstract)paper
  5. [goncalves2017] Gonçalves dos Santos M.T.P., Benito M.J., Córdoba M.G., Alvarenga N., Ruiz-Moyano Seco de Herrera S. 2017, Yeast community in traditional Portuguese Serpa cheese by culture-dependent and -independent DNA approaches, International Journal of Food Microbiology 262:63–70 (abstract)paper
  6. [eambrosia-reg] European Commission, eAmbrosia register record for 'Queijo Serpa' (PDO-PT-0260), EU protection date 1996-06-21spec
  7. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  8. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov