Queijo da Beira Baixa

The Portuguese region of Beira Baixa produces some of the country's best known traditional cheeses. The region has a long history of agriculture, and its granitic soils and healthy pastures make it the perfect place to create rich, tasty cheese. Beira Baixa cheese is a semi-hard cheese made from sheep’s milk, and it comes in three cheese types: Castelo Branco cheese, Beira Baixa spicy cheese, and Beira Baixa yellow cheese.

Two methods are used to produce this cheese – ovelheira, using vegetable rennet (Castelo Branco cheese), and cabreira, using animal rennet (Beira Baixa cheeses). The Castelo Branco variety is semi-hard and yellowish with an accentuated, slightly spicy flavor.

The Beira Baixa spicy variant is a hard cheese with no rind and a spicy flavor, while the Beira Baixa yellow cheese is semi-soft and yellowish in color with an intense, pleasant tart flavor. All of the Beira Baixa cheeses are great to use as snacks or appetizers, and served with good fresh bread, it makes it a simple but excellent meal.