Queijo de Nisa is a semi-hard

sheep's milk Sheep's milk (or ewes' milk) is the milk of domestic sheep. It is commonly used to make cultured dairy products such as cheese. Some of the most popular sheep cheeses include feta (Greece), ricotta (Italy), and Roquefort (France). Sheep breeds S ...

cheese from the municipality of Nisa, in the subregion of Alto Alentejo in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. It is created from raw milk, which is coagulated, then

curd Curd is obtained by coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet or any edible acidic substance such as l ...

led using an infusion of

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...

. It is yellowish white, with a robust flavor and a somewhat acidic finish. Since 1996, ''Nisa cheese'' has a

protected geographical status Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...

. It is registered and has a Protected designation of origin (PDO) by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

. It was honored by the magazine ''

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertain ...

'' as one of the world's top 100 in an edition devoted to cheese: "100 Great Cheeses"."The World of Cheese: 100 Great Cheeses" (Intro)
on winespectator.com.

References

{{Portuguese cheeses Portuguese cheeses Portuguese products with protected designation of origin Cheeses with designation of origin protected in the European Union

See also

References