Colony cheese ( pt, queijo de colônia, ) is a type of cheese made in the highlands of the Brazilian state of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

and in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. It is one of the icons of southern Brazilian cuisine, also being produced in Santa Catarina, despite being originally from Uruguay.

Production

This cheese is made by artisan production, usually in rural areas of the highlands, especially in regions settled by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and Italian immigrants who starting almost two hundred years ago brought with them their cheese-making traditions. It has low production cost, due to its simple manufacturing process, consisting mainly of

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

, salt and milk enzymes. It typically goes through a maturation process that can take several months. The aging gives the cheese its most striking feature: a soft, slightly spicy inside, complex flavor and surrounded by a solid yellow crust. The older the cheese gets, bigger and harder its crust get, making the taste of this product more pungent and striking. There can be a formation of small white mold in its external part, but that does not affect the quality of the product. This problem can be solved by storing it in environments of low relative humidity. Usually this cheese is consumed accompanied by red

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

s, or it can also be used for cooking, especially in

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

s, lasagnas and other

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...

Features

Description: mildly spicy, lactic-tasting, close dough, pale yellow colour. Produced without the use of dyes or

preservative A preservative is a substance or a chemical that is added to products such as food products, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, paints, biological samples, cosmetics, wood, and many other products to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or by ...

s. Consistency: hard or semi-hard outside. Soft, fairly creamy inside, showing good elasticity. Easily sliced and well melted when subjected to heat. Shape: cylindrical and flat, weighing from to .

History

Juan Teófilo Karlen originally brought this cheese to the Swiss colony

Nueva Helvecia Nueva Helvecia is a city in Colonia Department of Uruguay. Nueva Helvecia (Spanish for "New Helvetia"; formerly known as Colonia Suiza) is west of Montevideo, the capital and largest city of Uruguay. It is a few kilometres from the coast where th ...

, located Colonia Uruguay, therefore its name.

Sources

* https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28777824 Brazilian cheeses Cow's-milk cheeses Cuisine of the South region of Brazil {{Brazil-cuisine-stub

Production

Features

History

See also

Sources