Pastor del Cardete

The elaboration of our Manchego Cheese "Pastor del Cardete"

We commence production of our manchego cheese with the milking of the exclusively bred manchego sheep.

The milk is transported to our equipment and passed through the cleanser, which removes any solid particle stemming from the milking.

All the milk then undergoes a process of pasteurisation, which involves heating the milk to 74ºC for a few seconds. The pasteurised milk is then cooled down to 32ºC and transferred to the curdling vats, where natural rennet brings about coagulation and the necessary leavens are added to produce our cheese. The curd obtained is chopped up, until it attains a granularity similar to rice.

The resultant mass is shaken and slowly heated to 37ºC, with the objective of removing the liquid part or whey. From the curdling vats the mass goes through a moulding machine, which separates the curd from the whey and inputs the curd into cylindrical moulds with reliefs that print the "flor" onto the flat sides of the cheese and the "pleita" onto the lateral surfaces; external characteristics of cheese made in La Mancha region. During this operation, a serial-numbered plaque of casein is placed on each block of cheese, so that each block is individually identifiable.

Whilst the curd is in the moulds, it is subjected to pressure in order to get rid of any whey remaining in the mass.

The next process is salting by immersion, in which the cheese is put into a solution of water and sodium chloride for a length of time dependent on the cheese format: the greater the weight the longer the time it spends in the salt solution.

The last phase, in the making of Manchego cheese, is drying and maturation. The cheeses are moved to a drying room where, at a controlled temperature and humidity, the excess water is removed. Finally the cheese is placed in a maturing chamber, with temperature and humidity similarly controlled, for such time as is required by the particular variety.

"Denominación de origen" Cheese

The "Denominación de Origen" (Protected Designation of Origin) is a prestigious product classification given to designated regions by the awarding body, the Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen, when the produce of a region meets the required high standards of quality and production. It is often associated with manchego cheese and many of the wines from the Rioja region.