What Manchego Tastes Like
What Manchego actually is
Manchego is a sheep's milk cheese from Spain. That is the short version, and it explains most of what you need to know about it. Sheep's milk is richer than cow's milk, so the cheese it makes is denser and rounder in the mouth. The pack lists pasteurised sheep's milk, salt, cultures, calf rennet and calcium chloride.
The D.O.P. on the label is a protected designation of origin. It means the cheese has to be made in a particular way, in a particular place, to be called Manchego at all. So when you buy it, you are buying something with rules behind it.
We bring it in as whole wheels and cut and pack it here in Auckland. That is why the piece in your hand has a cut face rather than a factory seal on every side.
What it tastes like
Expect a gentle savoury flavour with buttery richness and soft nutty undertones.
That combination is why Manchego suits people who find some European cheese too sharp. It is not a cheese that shouts. The savoury note sits underneath, the buttery part is what you notice first, and the nuttiness comes through as you keep chewing.
Taste it on its own before you do anything else with it. Cut a thin slice, let it sit out of the fridge for a bit, and eat it plain. You will get a much better read on it that way than you will alongside chutney or a strong wine, both of which will cover the nutty end of it entirely.
How to serve it
Cut Manchego into thin wedges rather than cubes. The traditional shape is a triangle cut from the rind inwards, so each piece has a bit of the outer edge and a bit of the centre. The rind is not eaten — trim it off as you go, or leave it on and let people work around it.
Take it out of the fridge about half an hour before you want it. Cold cheese tastes flat. Warm it too much and it sweats.
It goes well with quince paste, which is the standard Spanish pairing, and with marcona almonds, olives, or plain crackers that do not have their own strong flavour. Cured meats work. So does a glass of Spanish red.
Beyond the board, it is a good grating cheese. Try it over roasted vegetables or through a salad with orange segments. It melts, but not smoothly, so it is better shaved on top of something hot than stirred into it.
The 140g retail pack is enough for two or three people on a board, or a week of lunches.
How to keep it once it is cut
Keep it refrigerated between +1°C and +5°C.
Wrap the cut face so it does not dry out, but let the cheese breathe. Baking paper or proper cheese paper is better than cling film, which traps moisture against the surface and turns it slick. If cling film is all you have, change it every couple of days.
Store it in the least cold part of your fridge, usually the bottom drawer. If a little surface mould appears on a hard cheese like this, cut it away with a centimetre of cheese underneath and the rest is fine.
There is more on this in How to Store & Handle Artisan Cheese.
Where to buy Manchego in New Zealand
You can order it from us directly: Spanish Manchego. We cut and pack it in Auckland from whole wheels, so it is not sitting in a sealed block for months before it reaches you.
If you are comparing options, the thing worth checking is when the cheese was cut and by whom.