Cheese and Olive Oil: Ideal combinations

Cheese and Olive Oil: Ideal combinations

The interest in pairing cheese and oil emerges after knowing the new tastes, aromas and even textures originated when soaking the cheese in oil to extent their shelf life. Afterwards, each kind of cheese has been combined with different varieties of olive oil to obtain the maximum possible benefit. Thus, we have the following combinations:

– Blue cheeses and Arbequina: Olive oil of the Arbequina variety is characterized by a sweet touch with fruity nuances of apple and banana. This contrasts with the typical sourness and spiciness of blue cheeses which make it a pairing full of personality.

– Manchego cheeses with Cornicabra: In manchego cheeses we can highlight their acid, strong and savory flavor that even has a slight spiciness in the aged ones. These flavors are characteristic of the manchega sheep’s milk which these cheeses are made with. If we add a cornicabra extra virgin olive oil to these characteristics, the flavor of this cheese will increase due to the light spiciness of this olive oil variety to which we have to add the green fruit aromas.

– Hojiblanca for sheep tortas: the lactic and vegetable aromas, together with the intense and sour flavor, are the main features of the sheep tortas. This is mainly due to the vegetable rennet used to prepare this cheese. For this reason, the hojiblanca variety is the one which combines better with these cheeses, since its almond and fresh grass nuances strengthen the characteristics of the sheep tortas.

– Goat cheeses and Picual: This pairing produces a nice contrast between the buttery, acidity and light salty and spiciness of goat cheeses, with the fruity green, tomato, fig tree and olive tree nuances, as well as the sourness which can be found in the olive oils of the Picual variety.