In Spain, ‘Artesanal’ means raw milk. And that is what Rey Silo has been doing for twenty years: making very distinct raw milk cheeses including their newest cheese, a blue, named “MAMÁ MARISA”. This cheese was crafted to express two qualities they deem essential in cheese: complexity and balance. Until now, the most recognized blue cheese from northern Spain is Cabrales and Rey Silo dreamt of making a blue version that is softer, creamier, exceptionally complex, well-balanced, and of course, made with raw cow’s milk.
“The human being loves complexity. We need complexity in all things. We hate the dull,” says Ernesto Madera Lopez – master cheesemaker at Rey Silo. “These are the most important things in life. If one flavor (in a cheese) is very prominent you will destroy the complexity. We love complexity in people, in perception. It is the same with wine, you want something up front, something that lingers, something that conjures up a memory, a smell, a flavor.”
In 2005, Ernesto and his business partner, Pascual Cabana, had a vision to reinterpret classic cheeses from Asturias and started Rey Silo Quesería Artesanal de Pravia. At Rey Silo, the milk is at the heart of their cheeses. They use only raw milk from cows of farms in the village of Oviñana a short distance from Pravia.
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