I've noticed Iberico cheese here and there over the past few years. Without close examination it looks a lot like Manchego — another Spanish cheese with a bone-white paste and a waxy brown rind imprinted with a woven grass esparto design. I mistakenly assumed that it was a Manchego knock-off produced outside the Manchego DOC area.
Until I tasted it — when I reminded myself about what happens when you assume.
Once it is out of the wrapper, there is not one thing about Iberico cheese that resembles Manchego. Unlike the pure sheeps' milk Manchego, Iberico is made from a blend of milks; it must contain at least 50 percent cow milk, at least 30 percent goat milk and at least 10 percent sheep milk. Blending types of milk this way is quite common in Spain, but has not been practiced much elsewhere in Europe; it just now is coming into vogue among some American cheesemakers. It is a very good way to tailor the cheese to meet specific desired characteristics.
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