Cheese Database

Guayanés cheese vs Queso de mano

Guayanés cheese

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Soft
Type
Stretched curd
Rind
No rind
Country
Venezuela
Place
Guayana Region

Guayanés cheese is a soft white cheese from the Guayana Region of Venezuela, made with cow's milk. It is a fresh cheese, salty and very moist, with a tender paste that can almost be eaten with a spoon. Producers heat and knead the curd, in the manner of a stretched fresh cheese, but they stop while the mass is still delicate. The usual piece is a soft ball or block, often cloth-wrapped, that weeps a little whey. It is an everyday cheese in Venezuela, not a long-aged wheel.

Queso de mano

Facts

Texture
Soft
Type
Stretched curd
Rind
No rind
Country
Venezuela

Queso de mano is a soft white cheese from Venezuela. The name means cheese of the hand, because makers stretch and shape the curd by hand. The paste is moist, pale, and folded into soft layers. It tastes mild and a little salty, closer to a fresh stretched cheese than to a sharp aged wheel. Venezuelans use it as a filling and as a side, not as a block meant for long storage.