Portuguese handmade cheese

Serra cheese cures for forty days on cold stone. Raw sheep's milk, coarse salt, dried thistle flower. Nothing else goes in. These are the cheesemakers who still work that way, in small batches, to an inherited recipe, in curing rooms that look like they stopped in 1947. You will find fresh requeijão (a soft whey cheese), soft amanteigado, semi-cured, cured, goat and mixed cheeses depending on the producer. Every piece lists the allergens required by EU Regulation 1169/2011, the type of milk (raw or pasteurised), and the curing time.