Buttery-soft sheep's cheese / Queijo de Azeitão DOP, unidade

Azeitão (protected origin) cheese is made from raw sheep's milk. It is an aged cheese with a semi-soft, buttery consistency and a white or slightly yellowish color and is really for cheese lovers who want something special.
The cheese has a strong, tangy flavor that is both sour and salty.

Its characteristics are due, on the one hand, to the soil and climatic conditions of the region, which influence the quality of the pastures.
On the other hand, it is due to the use of a variety of spontaneous thistle flower (Cynara Cardunculus L.) as a coagulant.

Production method:
After milking, which is usually done by hand, the milk is filtered and vegetable rennet (around 0.5 g of thistle flowers per kilo of milk) and salt (around 25 g/liter) are added. The milk is then stored at a temperature of 30ºC for 45 minutes. Once coagulation is complete, the excess whey is removed by hand, leaving a pressed mass that is stored for drying or deaeration for 20 days at a temperature of 10 to 12 ºC and a relative humidity of 85 to 90%.

Weight varies between 200g-250g as it is a natural product.