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Cheese from Spain, Navarre

Roncal PDO

Whole milk of Lacha and Rasa sheep (Assaf and Lacaune allowed since 2008) is set with natural rennet in at most one hour at 30–37 °C, and the curd is cut slowly to rice-size grains. The curd is moulded and pressed, salted dry or in brine for at most 48 hours, and ripened at least 4 months from the end of salting, with turning and cleaning, into a hard cheese with a thick brown or straw rind.

Fully documentedCheese4.1 monthsPDO (EU), registered by Reg. (EC) No 1107/96; specification amended by Reg. (EC) No 1204/2003; national regulation by Order of 2 March 1981; a further pliego amendment (Navarre Resolution 1731/2008) was sent to the Commission on 24 November 2008Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives conditions, not doses. Cheeses are 8–12 cm high; weight and diameter vary.
Whole, clean sheep milk with no preservatives, from registered flocks[roncal-2009][roncal-1981]
Natural rennet, at the dose that sets the milk within 1 hour[roncal-2009]
Salt, dry or as brine[roncal-2009]
StarterThe regulatory council says nothing enters the raw-milk cheese beyond the milk, animal rennet and salt.

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.1 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactobacillus paracaseiL. plantarum30–37 °C

What changes: Natural rennet sets the warm sheep milk within an hour

Step 1 of 5
Set with natural rennet
Time
up to 1 h
Set
Temperature
30–37 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus paracasei
L. plantarum

The 1994 summary sheet gave 32–37 °C for at least one hour.

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

Whole milk of Lacha and Rasa sheep (Assaf and Lacaune allowed since 2008) is set with natural rennet in at most one hour at 30–37 °C, and the curd is cut slowly to rice-size grains. The curd is moulded and pressed, salted dry or in brine for at most 48 hours, and ripened at least 4 months from the end of salting, with turning and cleaning, into a hard cheese with a thick brown or straw rind. Made in 5 steps over 4.1 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 4 months (Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y…). Lactobacillus paracasei and L. plantarum (wild strains), added as an adjunct to a commercial starter in trial batches of Roncal-type cheese from pasteurised milk; they brought its flavour score close to that of the raw-milk cheese does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 4 monthsSet[roncal-2009][roncal-summary]Ripen
Temperature30–37 °CSet[roncal-2009]Set with natural rennet

What makes this one different

Made and ripened only in the seven villages of the Roncal Valley, with at least half the ewes of the Lacha breed. Its national regulation dates from an order of 2 March 1981.

Composition
Fat at least 45 % of dry matter; moisture under 40 %
Ripening
At least 4 months from the end of salting

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is kept at the legally set temperature to stop microbial growth.

History and sources

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

Between the 10th and 13th centuries the Roncal Valley kept about 80,000–100,000 transhumant sheep. The cheese appears on page 431 of El Practicón (1893), and old tools such as the beech kaiku and moulds are kept in museums. The Lacha breed was admitted for Roncal milk in the 1960s because the cheese was at risk of disappearing, and Assaf and Lacaune in the 2008 pliego. The name was recognised provisionally by an order of 26 July 1975, and Regulation (EC) No 1204/2003 of 4 July 2003 amended the pliego's rennet-time and curd-temperature wording.

  1. [roncal-2009] Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino, Resolución de 16 de febrero de 2009 granting national transitional protection to the DOP «Roncal», with the amended pliego de condiciones, BOE núm. 69, 21 March 2009 (BOE-A-2009-4840)gov
  2. [roncal-1981] Orden de 2 de marzo de 1981 por la que se reglamenta la denominación de origen «Roncal» y su Consejo Regulador, BOE 9 April 1981gov
  3. [roncal-summary] Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Spain), application for registration "Roncal" PDO, summary sheet (English), eAmbrosia attachment 74042archive
  4. [reg-2003] European Commission 2003, Regulation (EC) No 1204/2003 amending the specifications of three names appearing in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 (Roncal, Noix de Grenoble and Caciocavallo Silano), Official Journal of the EU L 168, 5 July 2003, pp. 10–11spec
  5. [ortigosa2005] Ortigosa M., Arizcun C., Torre P., Izco J.M. 2005, Use of wild Lactobacillus strains in an adjunct culture for a Roncal-type cheese, Journal of Dairy Research 72(2):168–178 (abstract)paper
  6. [roncal-council] Consejo Regulador D.O. Roncal, Queso Roncal website, home page (accessed 2026-10-31)web