| The name of "Extremadura", a region in southwestern Spain, on the border with Portugal, comes from "Tierra de Extremos (Land of Extremes). Below this central plateau, with a hot climate yet a temperate winter, was known by the latter name during the Middle Ages, when northern Spain was occupied by Christian kingdoms and the south by Saracens. It was a no-man's-land, a frontier, where large migrating flocks of Merino sheep spent their winters grazing.
During the Middle Ages, after the last territories were wrested from the Moslems, settlers moved to the area, protected by the Christian Military Orders. A prosperous farming economy developed, dedicated primarily to the production and exportation of Merino sheep's wool, and later to meat production.
Sheep's milk cheese, with well-defined characteristics has always been made for auto-consumption and sale. It is a cheese made from the whole and very thick raw milk of the merino sheep (a rustic breed with small milk production) coagulated with vegetable rennet (Cynara cardunculus), using farmhouse type manual production methods and short aging period under temperate and humid conditions.
La Serena is one of the most sought-after, highly valued and expensive cheeses in Spain. Today this cheese is made using both traditional methods on farms and in small modern dairies. The most productive time of year is from the beginning of winter to the end of spring.
Labeled "Denominación de Origen
Protegida" (D.O.P.)
(Protected Denomination of Origen) |
Origin:
Characteristics.
