Hard & aged Sheep’s milk

Idiazábal

Basque shepherds’ cheese, smoked because the huts had no chimneys.

Drawn by the app from this cheese’s own record — paste, rind and texture come from the data, not a stock library.

Made from raw Latxa and Carranzana sheep's milk in the Basque hills. The smoking was never a flavour decision to begin with — wheels stored in the rafters of shepherds' huts simply absorbed the smoke from the fire — but it stayed, and now roughly half of production is smoked over beech or hawthorn.

Sharp, buttery and deeply savoury, with the smoke sitting behind rather than over the milk.

Tastes of

woodsmoke lanolin butter a sharp salty finish

Put it next to

Txakoli Membrillo Rioja Cured ham