MAKING MANCHEGO CHEESE

1. MILKING AND MILK CHILLING

The ewes are milked by hand or by machine.  The milk is then filtered and deposited in refrigerated tanks, where it is chilled down to 4 ºC.

2. CURDLING AND CURD CUTTING

.The milk is moved into curdling vats, where it is curdled using natural rennet or other coagulating enzymes.  For this process the milk is heated to 30 ºC and kept at that temperature for 45 minutes.  The curd is then cut up time and time again until the individual curds are the size of rice grains.

3. WHEY REMOVAL

The cheese mass is stirred and slowly reheated to 37 ºC, to help eliminate the liquid part, or whey.

4. MOLDING

The curd is put into cylindrical molds that have designs in relief on the inside to imprint a wheat ear “flower” on the top and bottom of the cheese and a zigzag braid along the sides,called "pleita".

5. CASEIN TABBING FOR CHEESE IDENTIFICATION

During this operation the casein tab, with its serial number, is attached to identify each individual cheese.

6. PRESSING

Once the curd is in the molds, it is pressed to help eliminate the whey from the inside of the cheese mass.

7. TURNING

After some time in the press, the curd is extracted from the mold (it will be a cylindrical block by this time), turned over, and put back into the mold to be pressed again.

8. SALTING

The next process is salting, which is done by immersing the cheeses in a sodium chloride solution for 24 to 48 hours.

9. DRYING AND AGING

The cheeses are moved to chambers where the air humidity is right for eliminating the excess water.  Next they are put in aging chambers where temperature and humidity are controlled for correct aging.