Tetilla Cheese, the well-known Galician designation of origin
Galicia stands out for its great livestock tradition, specifically cattle for both meat and milk production is an important economic sector. There are four designations of origin in the Galician community, with Tetilla cheese being the best known both within and outside our borders.
Tetilla cheese or queixo tetilla in Galician, is made with milk from cows of the Rubia Gallega, Friesian and Pardo Alpina breeds. Nowadays, its traditional production in small traditional cheese factories coexists with the industrial production, keeping all of them its conical shape with “small breast” form.
The cheese has a thin, elastic rind, free of mould and straw yellow in colour. Tetilla cheese is a soft, creamy and uniform cheese that varies in colour from ivory white to yellowish. Its taste and smell is mild, milky and slightly acidic, reminiscent of the milk from which it comes. We must keep the cheese in the refrigerator for its correct conservation, we recommend a temperature between 16-18ºC for its good consumption at any time.
The first known news about Tetilla cheese dates from the 18th century, but the cheese is probably older. First proven testimonies date back to 1753, when in a letter from Juan Bermúdez de Novoa, chaplain of San Xoan de Torés, he announced the sending of “two pieces of bacon, a leg of cow, half a dozen cheeses, three and a half dozen tetillas, three and a half dozen pig tongues” to his master, the Marquis of Camarasa.
The production area is made up of the whole of the autonomous community of Galicia. The geography of Galicia stands out for its contrast between the coastal and inland relief. A large number of rivers and low mountains in the interior provide a landscape of green pastures that encourage livestock activity.
Purchase in origin in our FASCINATING PLACES A Coruña, Lugo, Monforte de Lemos, Ourense, Pontevedra and Vilalba.
