Flor de Guía cheese

Manufacture

The cheese is made in three varieties: Flor de Guía, which uses only juice from cardoon flowerheads for coagulation; Half Flor de Guía (media Flor de guía), which uses 50% cardoon juice and 50% globe artichoke flower juice; and Guía cheese, which uses a mixture of vegetable and animal coagulant, typically rennet from young goats or lambs. Cheeses are further classified as semi-cured or cured based on maturation length. Production is limited to the municipalities of Santa María de Guía, Moya, and Gáldar, and occurs only between January and July.

Sheep providing the milk are kept on open terrain within the designated area, feeding largely on wild plants and grass, with supplemental concentrates when needed. Cows are stabled most of the year but tethered in open pasture when conditions allow; goats graze on fenced land and are gathered at night. Milking may be mechanical or manual. For Flor cheese, the vegetable rennet (liquid cardoon extract) is added when the milk reaches 28–35 °C and held for 60 to 90 minutes.

Half-Flor cheese uses 50% cardoon juice and 50% other authorized rennet, heated to 28–38 °C and held for a maximum of one hour. Guía cheese may use animal, vegetable, or chemical rennet, heated to 30–38 °C and held until analysis indicates readiness. Salt is added at no more than 30 g per 100 litres of milk.

Did You Know?

• The rind can vary from dark brown in long-matured cheeses to ivory-white or cream in less matured ones.
• The flavour is of dairy products with saltiness, sometimes slightly acid or spicy.
• A flower design may appear on the top face of the cheese.