Serra da Estrela vs Tupí
Serra da Estrela
Facts
- Milk
- Sheep
- Texture
- Soft
- Type
- Pressed
- Rind
- Natural rind
- Country
- Portugal
- Place
- Serra da Estrela
Serra da Estrela is a sheep's milk cheese from the Serra da Estrela mountains in Portugal. Shepherds and small dairies set the milk with a thistle flower, not with animal rennet, and that choice shapes both the texture and the taste. A ripe wheel can turn so soft that people spoon the center. A wheel kept longer becomes firmer and better for grating. The mountain range and the name on the cheese are the same place.
Tupí
Facts
- Milk
- Mixed milk
- Texture
- Soft
- Rind
- No rind
- Country
- Spain
- Place
- Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees
Tupí is a strong fermented cheese from the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees of Spain, and it is a Catalan specialty. Makers use cow's milk or sheep's milk, so the milk changes with the batch rather than staying one species. Fresh curd, or pieces of cheese, go into a small glazed jar called a tupí, together with a strong liquor. The mix ferments until it is soft, creamy, and very pungent. You eat it as a spread, not as a neat slice cut from a wheel.