Azores Island Cheese Portugal 24 Months Cure Intense Flavour Slice of cheese with 300g (10.58oz) This cheese is a rare, strong but tasty cheese, produced on the beautiful Portuguese island of São Jorge (Azores) Island cheese is a type of cheese made with raw cow's milk on the island of São Jorge, Azores, which for production purposes is, in its entirety, the Demarcated Cheese Region. Being a cheese manufactured exclusively on the island of São Jorge, cured, with firm, yellowish, hard or semi-hard pulp, with small and irregularly disseminated eyes in the mass, presenting a brittle structure, obtained by pressing and draining after coagulation, exclusively with animal rennet of raw, whole cow's milk. The paste can be hard or semi-hard, fatty, with a moisture content of 49% to 63%, referred to as fat-free cheese, and with a minimum fat content of 45%, calculated as dry matter, considering a minimum ripening period. at three months. The cheese has a cylindrical shape, like a regular wheel, with dimensions ranging between 25 cm and 35 cm in diameter and 10 cm to 15 cm. Cheeses with a crust have a hard consistency, a dark yellow color, sometimes with reddish-brown spots, and a smooth appearance, well formed or not coated with paraffin or other suitable colorless plastic coatings. The paste has a firm texture, sometimes brittle, yellowish, with many irregular eyes that are poorly distributed throughout the dough. Have an aroma and flavor characterized by a strong, clean and slightly spicy bouquet, characteristics that become more accentuated with aging. Have cheese weighing 8 kg and 12 kg. Cheese ripening conditions were subjected to natural or conditioned environment with air temperature of 12? to 14?, relative humidity of 80% to 85% and moderate ventilation for a minimum ripening curing time or three months.