American in Spain

When my in-laws came back from their annual Easter trip to the La Serena region of Spain, they brought back a wheel of the typical cheese of the region, Queso de la Serena. It’s made from the milk of Merino sheep, and it takes almost two dozen sheep to product enough milk for a kilogram of cheese. It’s coagulated using a natural vegetable rennet taken from the cardoon, a thistle-like plant related to the artichoke. The coagulation happens very slowly, allowing for a rich, but tart, flavor to develop. Cheeses coagulated with cardoon tend to be very creamy, making the interior of the cheese very oozy. In fact, a traditional way to eat it is by slicing off the top and eating the creamy inside with a spoon. I’ve never done that, but it sounds wonderful.
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The other day, I saw pimento cheese mentioned in passing on a sibling blog. As far as I know, pimento cheese doesn’t even exist outside the Confederate States of America, so of course it doesn’t exist over here in the Old World. It reminded me of my childhood, even though I’ve probably only eaten a dozen pimento cheese sandwiches in my life. I commented on it and was given a recipe to make some myself!
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The following article appeared on the website of the local news channel in my home state:

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