Queijo São Jorge

Did You Know?

• The cheese acquired its current cylindrical, wheel shape by the end of the 18th century.
• In 1991, the Confraria do Queijo de São Jorge was formed, whose role was sampling cheeses for certification by the Uniqueijo Cooperative.

History

The cheese sector on São Jorge began with the islands' settlement and the transport of domesticated cattle. The historian Gaspar Frutuoso noted that after colonization, dairy cattle, sheep and goats were kept, producing many cheeses all year, considered the best in the Azores due to the pastures. The connection between cheese quality and pasture-lands was later confirmed by agronomists. Climatic conditions and their effect on pasture-lands led to more milk production than needed for subsistence, so inhabitants manufactured cheese as a food reserve and to use excess milk.

The cheeses were attributed to the natural intercropping of grasses and legumes in middle altitude areas. Flemish settlers, among the first settlers captained by Willem van der Haegen, influenced cheese production, finding the higher altitude similar to their former lands for cattle-raising and dairy grazing. José Pereira da Cunha da Silveira e Sousa Júnior, an agronomer and major 19th-century producer, wrote in 1887 that by the middle of the 18th century, production had expanded significantly, exporting to other islands and abroad, with queijo da terra similar to Flemish cheese.

Under the Cunha da Silveira family, improvements were introduced from abroad. A Habsburg professional, Fernand Ranchel, established a factory in the fields of Loural near Toledo, dedicated to producing a hard cheese that became the model for Queijo de São Jorge, replacing earlier soft and semi-hard types.

Production

Queijo São Jorge is produced exclusively with raw dairy milk from the island of São Jorge. The milk is coagulated into curd after acidification using lacto-serum from previous manufacturing. The curd stands until the desired consistency is reached, then lacto-serum is extracted, and refined salt is added at 2.8% by weight. The curd is formed into circular wheels, numbered consecutively with a producer code to determine age, manufacturer, and quality control elements. The cheese is dried in chambers at ambient temperature, then moved to acclimatized chambers for at least 90 days. Special editions may cure up to 36 months. Cheeses are selected for quality and certification requirements, passing through a chamber of tasters, then warehoused at low temperatures until sale.

Characteristics

The cheese must be produced exclusively on São Jorge and be a cured, firm, yellowish, hard or semi-hard cheese with small irregular holes and a brittle structure, obtained by draining and pressing after coagulation of whole raw cow milk curd. It is hard or semi-hard, fat, with 49% to 63% moisture content, a minimum fat content of 45% on a dry weight basis, and a minimum cure of three months. The cheese has a cylindrical wheel shape, 25–35 cm in diameter and 10–15 cm in height.

The rind is hard, dark yellow, sometimes with reddish-brown spots, smooth, well-formed, with or without paraffin or colourless plastic coatings. The texture is firm, sometimes brittle, yellowish, with many irregular small eyes unevenly distributed. The aroma and flavour are characterized by a strong clean bouquet, slightly spicy, features that accentuate with aging. The cheese weighs between 8 and 12 kg.

Natural or climate-controlled maturation occurs at 12–14 °C with 80% to 85% relative humidity and moderate ventilation for a minimum of three months.