![Asadero cheese from Licon Dairy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Asadero_cheese_from_Licon_Dairy.jpg)
Asadero cheese (''queso asadero'' meaning "roastable" or "for grilling," also spelled "azadero")
is a white, flat
Mexican cheese that is made fresh from goat and cow's milk.
"Asadero" is the kind of cheese, and individual pieces of the cheese are called "asaderos."
The milk is mixed with another mixture of milk and
rennet
Rennet () is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease enzyme that curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, such as pepsin and a ...
and then boiled for thirty minutes. The mixture is churned, cooked again and then flattened into flat, round shapes while it is still hot. It is a mild cheese that melts well.
It is often eaten with bread or
tortillas
A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of Me ...
. Asadero is sometimes confused with
Chihuahua and
Oaxaca
Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...
cheeses.
Asadero cheese began to be made during the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
in
Chihuahua.
The cheese was also made in
Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
.
Later, the recipe was brought with immigrants to the
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
.
In the past, recipes for asadero cheese may have used the poisonous
silverleaf nightshade berries to
curdle
Curdling is the breaking of an emulsion or colloid into large parts of different composition through the physio-chemical processes of flocculation, creaming, and coalescence. Curdling is purposeful in the production of cheese curd and tofu; und ...
the milk instead of rennet.
See also
*
Cheeses of Mexico
Cheeses in Mexico have a history that begins with the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Spanish conquest, as dairy products were unknown in Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The Spanish brought dairy animals, such as cattle, sheep, ...
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
Licon Diary Azaderos Cheese Process
Mexican cheeses
Cow's-milk cheeses