  thumb|cut idiazabal cheese idiazabal is a pressed cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk, usually from latxa and carranzana sheep in the basque country and navarre, spain. it has a somewhat smokey flavor, but is usually un-smoked. the cheese is handmade and covered in a hard, dark brown, inedible rind. it is aged for a few months and develops a nutty, buttery flavor, eaten fresh, often with quince jam. if aged longer, it becomes firm, dry and sharp and can be used for grating. the denomination of origin for idiazabal cheese was created in 1987 and defines the basic regulations for the product's manufacture. typically, unpasteurized milk from latxa breed of sheep is used, although in some cases the d.o. permits the use of milk from carranzana breed, from the encartaciones in biscay. the d.o. also stipulates that the milk be curdled with the natural lamb rennet, and permits external smoking of the cheese. the cheeses produced in the following towns in accordance with all the d.o. regulations, are therefore also protected by the idiazabal d.o. : urbia, entzia, gorbea, orduÃ±a, urbasa and aralar. recently some basque country farmers have begun to use hybrid assaf sheep, which some maintain does not meet the denomination of origin for the cheese. ==production process== idiazabal is an aged cheese, from semi-cured to cured, made exclusively from whole unpasteurized sheep's milk. it is produced by strong enzymatic coagulation. the pressed paste can be either uncooked or semi-cooked. it can eventually be externally smoked. the milk used to produce idiazabal must be whole unpasteurized, with a minimum of 6% fat. the milk coagulates at a temperature of , with the addition of natural lamb curd, resulting in a compact curdle after 30 to 45 minutes. the curdle is cut in order to obtain rice-size grains, and then reheated to . in the case of coagulation at higher temperatures, the reheating temperature can reach . the reheated and shrunken paste dehydrates and is placed in molds where it may or may not be seasoned before pressing. salting of the ch
Basque_cuisine Cheeses_with_designation_of_origin_protected_in_the_European_Union Sheep\'s-milk_cheeses Smoked_cheeses Spanish_cheeses Spanish_products_with_protected_designation_of_origin