Garrotxa is a traditional Catalan cuisine, Catalan goat cheese.
[Ari Weinzweig. ''Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003), p. 275.] Almost extinct by the early 1980s, it has been revived by a young Cheesemaking, cheesemakers and goat farmers' cooperative in the Garrotxa area of Catalonia.
[Janet Fletcher, ''Cheese & Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing, and Enjoying'' (Chronicle Books, 2007), p. 70.] The revival began in 1981,
[Juliet Harbutt, ''The World Cheese Book'' (Penguin, 2009), p. 156.] and the cheese has since become widespread in artisanal production.
[John W. Fischer, ''Cheese: Identification, Classification, Utilization'' (Cengage: 2010), p. 69.]
Garrotxa is traditionally made from the milk of Murciana goats and aged in caves to enhance Mold (fungus), mold development and the resulting flavor.
Garrotxa is described as having a powdery gray or grayish-blue rind, a firm texture, an Ivory (color), ivory-colored interior, and an earthy flavor.
The cheese is semi-soft.
Cheese wheels of Garrotxa are small (typically around three pounds) and mature relatively quickly in the humid Pyrenees.
Maturing time varies, but is typically between four and eight weeks.
The cheese is Pasteurization, pasteurized.
[Max McCalman & David Gibbons, ''Mastering Cheese: Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maître Fromager'' (Random House: 2009), p. 151.]
Garrotxa pairs well with crusty country bread,
pears,
and nut (fruit), nuts, such as toasted hazelnuts,
or almonds or walnuts.
It may be served as tapas or at the end of a meal.
Garrotxa is sometimes described as a dessert cheese. The cheese is mildly acidic.
[Suzanne Maher & Andy Pforzheimer, ''The Barcelona Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Life'' (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2009), p. 106.]
Wine and food matching, Wine pairing include white wines such as a Catalan Priorat (DOQ), Priorat,
or Pinot Gris, Verdejo, or Chardonnay with "texture to complement the cheese's buttery sweetness," or fino or Dryness (taste), dry amontillado sherry, to bring out the cheese's nuttiness.
, some Catalans were seeking designation of origin status for Garrotxa.
In popular culture
Garrotxa was used to create a hole in a sail by firing it from a cannon, by ''Mythbusters'' (ep. 128), to declare "plausible" the apocryphal tale of Captain Coe and the Battle of the Cheese.
See also
* List of goat milk cheeses
References
{{Spanish cheeses
Catalan cuisine
Goat's-milk cheeses
Garrotxa
Spanish cheeses