Hard sheep and goat cheeses

Also called Abertamský sýr, Abertam.

Abertam is a traditional farm cheese of sheep's milk from Karlovy Vary. Reference works describe it as a hard or firm cheese of irregular round shape with a yellow to orange natural rind and a strong, acidic taste, ripened for about two months.

Milk

Sheep milk

Ripening

About 2 months (review citing an older reference work)

Shape and rind

Irregular spherical shape; natural rind, yellow to orange

Texture and taste

Firm; strong, acidic and tasty

Made like Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates).

• United States Department of Agriculture 1953, Cheese Varieties and Descriptions, Agriculture Handbook No. 54, entry 'Abertam'
• Martín-del-Campo S.T., Pérez-Alva A., Baigts-Allende D.K. 2025, Czech cheeses, their history, production, and chemical and sensory qualities, Journal of Food Science (PMC12057542)

Berkswell is a raw ewe's milk cheese made at Ram Hall farm in the West Midlands. The curd is set with lamb's rennet and moulded by hand in colanders, which give the wheel its flying-saucer shape and patterned crust. The cheeses are dry-salted, coated and matured on wooden shelves for several months.

Milk

Raw sheep milk from the farm's own flock

Ripening

3–5 months (2012 report)

Shape

Flying saucer, from moulding in colanders

1. Rennet the warm milk
2. Cut and stir
3. Mould in colanders
4. Turn and dry-salt6 days
5. Wash and coat
6. Mature on wooden shelves3–5 months

Safety: Made from raw sheep milk and matured 3 to 5 months, by a retailer's 2012 visit report. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses during ageing.

• The Fine Cheese Co. 2012. The Fine Cheese Co. visit Berkswell cheese-makers (blog, 28 February 2012)
• La Fromagerie. History, tradition, innovation, a trip to Ram's Hall (blog)
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days

Also called Caprino della Valbrevenna.

Raw goat milk, sometimes with a little cow milk, is set with rennet and made into a small pressed formaggetta 10–14 cm across, eaten fresh or semi-aged for about 30 days. In the Valbrevenna the same milk also makes small tomini of about 180 g, dusted with chestnut or beech ash for two hours and ripened about 10 days.

Size

Formaggetta 10–14 cm across (Liguria sheet); ONAF gives faces of 35–40 cm and about 2.0 kg, which do not fit together

Rind

Fairly thin, soft, straw yellow

1. Set with rennet
2. Mould and press
3. Salt
4. Ripen30 days

Safety: Made from raw milk and eaten fresh or semi-aged (about 30 days); the Valbrevenna tomini ripen about 10 days. ANSES, the French food safety agency, names Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli as the main hazards of raw-milk cheeses. It advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children not to eat raw-milk cheeses, except cooked pressed ones such as Comté.

• Regione Liguria, traditional products sheet 'Caprino di malga' (Caprino della Valbrevenna, Caprino di malga delle Alpi Marittime) (copy hosted by ONAF)
• ONAF, cheese page 'Caprino di malga (delle Alpi Marittime)' (id 964)
• ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)

Also called Imokilly Regato, Regato.

A hard cow-milk cheese made at Mogeely in south-east Cork from milk of cows that graze from March to October. The milk is held 12–18 hours so its own bacteria start to grow, then set with a house culture and rennet, cut very fine and cooked hot. The wheels are brined, salted by hand and matured for about 9–12 months.

Milk

Cow milk from pasture-fed herds in south-east Cork, grazing March to October

Milk treatment

Standardised and cooled to 32–34 °C (AnyCheese key facts, a secondary directory; the PDO file gives no figure)

Ripening

Typically 9–12 months

1. Hold the milk12–18 h
2. Add culture and rennet
3. Cut fine and cook
4. Mould and press
5. Brine, then dry-salt by hand
6. Mature9–12 months

• Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Ireland), Application for protection under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, Imokilly Regato, Dairygold Co-operative (eAmbrosia file)
• Culture magazine 2015, Style highlight, Imokilly Regato
• AnyCheese, Imokilly Regato key facts (milk treatment, standardised and cooled to 32-34 C; secondary source)

Raw goat milk, still warm from milking, is set with animal rennet. The curd is cut, drained slowly by hand in hoops and dry-salted one face at a time, with washing and scraping between turns. The cheeses are sold half-cured or cured, and the 'de azeite' type is kept in local olive oil.

1. Filter the warm milk
2. Set with animal rennet
3. Cut and rest
4. Drain slowly in the hoops
5. Salt face by face, washing and scraping
6. Ripen
7. Immerse in olive oil (de azeite type)

Safety: Made from raw milk. 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.

• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Sheep milk from the morning milking is warmed and set, mainly with cardoon in a cloth bundle ('boneca'), sometimes with rennet. The curd is cut and crumbled on the draining board, pressed by hand into tiny hoops and salted on both sides. After draining, the small cheeses cure for a few weeks, turned regularly.

1. Strain the morning milk
2. Warm and set with cardoon
3. Cut and crumble on the francela
4. Fill tiny hoops, press and salt
5. Drain before unmoulding
6. Cure

Safety: If the milk is raw, 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.

• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days

Also called Queijo Rabaçal, Rabaçal.

Raw ewe and goat milk is mixed and set with animal rennet. The curd drains slowly, is moulded and salted, and the cheeses ripen for more than 20 days into a semi-hard to hard, dull-white cheese.

Milk

Raw ewe and goat milk, mixed

Composition

Moisture 52–60 % of the fat-free cheese; fat 45 % or less of dry matter

1. Mix the milks
2. Set with animal rennet
3. Drain the curd slowly and mould it
4. Salt
5. Ripenat least 20 days

Safety: Made from raw milk and ripened for more than 20 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.

• European Commission, Summary sheet for registration of 'Queijo Rabaçal' (VIB14/PO/0221), eAmbrosia register
• Pereira C.D., Campos L., Veiga A., Pereira-Dias S., Henriques M. 2026, Role of cardoon (Cynara spp.) and raw milk microbiota in Iberian PDO and PGI small ruminants' milk cheeses, Foods 15(13):2359 (review; Table 1)
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Also called formatge de Mallorca, formatge d'ovella roja mallorquina, queso de Llucmajor.

A small raw sheep-milk cheese of Mallorca, sometimes mixed with goat milk. In the Oveja Roja Mallorquina version the milk is warmed to 32 °C and set in about 30 minutes with a cardoon-pistil coagulant, shaped in cotton cloths into the traditional fogasser form, pressed eight hours, salted, and ripened about two months, its dry rind rubbed with oil.

Shape and size

Square with rounded edges, about 6 cm high and 15 cm across, 300–1,000 g

Season

Ewes milked from October to the end of June; no cheese in summer

1. Warm the raw milk32 °C
2. Set with cardoon coagulant30 min
3. Cut and shape in cloth
4. Press and salt8 h
5. Ripen and oil the rind2 months

Safety: The cheese is made from raw milk. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked ones, because of Listeria, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin E. coli.

• Slow Food Illes Balears, Ark of Taste sheet no. 2, «Formatge de Ovella Roja Mallorquina»
• Wikipedia (es), «Queso de Mallorca» (outline only)
• ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)

Also called queso de encella, angilla.

A sheep milk cheese of Tierra de Campos. The rennet curd was once rolled by hand in a cloth on a table into a log, the 'mule's leg', then pressed hard, brined and ripened for months.

Rind

Yellow to ochre

Size

Log ('mule's leg') shape

1. Prepare the milk
2. Set the curd
3. Mould and salt
4. Ripen3–6 months

• Wikipedia (es), 'Queso pata de mulo'

Also called Queso Sardo.

Argentina's food code defines Sardo as the small size of its Romano-type cheese, a low-moisture ripened cheese of whole or part-skimmed milk, soured with a lactic culture and set with kid or lamb rennet or enzymes. The curd is cooked, moulded, pressed and salted, and the cheese, under 4 kg, ripens at least three months into a sharp, crumbly paste.

Size classes

Grande over 8 kg, at least 9 months; Mediano 3–8 kg, at least 6 months (both Queso Romano); Chico under 4 kg, at least 3 months (Queso Sardo)

Fat

Fat in dry matter at least 38.0 %

1. Acidify and set
2. Cook the curd
3. Mould and press
4. Salt
5. Ripenat least 3 months

• Código Alimentario Argentino, Chapter VIII (dairy foods), article 637 (Resolución Conjunta SPRyRS 33/2006 and SAGPyA 563/2006), Queso Romano and Queso Sardo, ANMAT edition updated October 2025

A sheep milk cheese from the mountain village of Castelsaraceno, ripened about two months in rush baskets. ONAF describes the milk warmed over a wood fire in a tinned copper cauldron and set with lamb or kid paste rennet at 36–40 °C, but warns that the region sent no documentation, so much of its sheet may describe a similar local cheese.

Rind

Thin, straw-yellow, basket marks, greasy

1. Warm the milk over a wood fire36–40 °C
2. Set the curd30 min
3. Pack into rush baskets
4. Ripenat least 2 months

Safety: The ONAF sheet has the milk warmed only to 36–40 °C (this may come from a similar local cheese) and gives a ripening of at least 2 months. It names no pasteurisation.

• ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Tagliatizzo di Castelsaraceno' (states that the region sent no documentation)
• ONAF, cheese page 'Tagliatizzo di Castelsaraceno' (id 352)