Queijo de Azeitão

A PDO sheep's-milk cheese from the Setubal peninsula, south of Lisbon, curdled with thistle flower extract. Aged about 30 days to a soft, spoonable, intensely sheep-y paste with a floral bitterness. One of Portugal's finest cheeses, eaten with bread and red wine.

A spoonably soft, oozy sheep's-milk cheese with a thin rind, the paste rich, buttery and intensely sheep-y with a faint floral bitterness from the thistle rennet. Scooped onto bread with a glass of red, deeply savoury and complex.

The cheese's character comes from the thistle rennet and the sheep's milk. Raw ewe's milk is warmed and curdled with an extract of cardoon thistle flowers (Cynara cardunculus), a plant-based rennet traditional to Portuguese sheep cheese. The thistle enzymes break down the milk proteins differently from animal rennet, giving a softer curd and a characteristic slightly bitter, floral aftertaste. The curd is lightly pressed into small rounds, salted, and aged about 30 days, during which the paste softens to a spoonable, almost liquid centre under a thin natural rind. The cheese is eaten at room temperature, when the paste is fully oozy, scooped with bread. Over-aged cheese becomes too runny and bitter.