Cantabria - Visit the healing cave of Picón de Bejes cheese in Valle de Liébana

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Bejes cheeses in the healing cave in the Liébana Valley of Cantabria

I anticipate that I am passionate about cheeses, and in particular, the most cured, that is, those with the strongest flavor.

And if we talk about strong cheeses, no doubt, the Bejes cheese in its variety Picón cheese It is a good example, and we must recognize that it is not suitable for all audiences.

In my last trip to Cantabria I had the opportunity to know how cheese is made by hand in the village of Bejes, at Liebana Valley.

There, in one of the high areas of the interior valley that takes you, among other places, to Fuente Dé Cable Car, there are still two cheese artisans who largely prepare it in a traditional way, with the process of healing in caves.

The existence of these caves has already been recorded since 1737, when it is known that neighbors climbed boards to the caves, it is supposed to cure the cheese.

Bejes in the Liébana Valley of Cantabria

Luis Alberto Alles currently produces the variety of Picón de Bejes cheese, under the designation of origin Bejes-Tresviso, a very intense blue cheese, made with raw cow, goat and sheep milk.

With 10 and a half liters of milk, prepare a kilo of cheese, which, after 3-4 days of drying and 20 days of drying, is transferred to the inside of a cave, where it remains a minimum of two months in the process of healing . And after this time, you are ready to market.

In the visit to Bejeswhere Luis has ridden a Cheese Interpretation Center, you can visit with him the Sotorraña cave, which is still used today for cheese ripening. This cave was opened in 1943, a time when all the residents of the town produced cheese.

But cheese production was not the main economic activity of the population of Bejes in previous times, since between 1856 and 1927 the then 400 inhabitants of the town were mainly engaged in mining work. In fact, for that reason in that year 1856 the road to climb to Bejes.

Bejes cheeses in the healing cave in the Liébana Valley of Cantabria

The cave was initially accessed by walking and catching, but now it is reached by means of a forest track opened in 2002 to arrive by vehicle, and you can walk to the place where the cheeses ripen.

To get there, you have to open a metal door and pass along with some formations of stalactites and stalacmites. And in the background, you will see the cheeses on wooden boards.

The cave has a constant temperature of 9 degrees, and a humidity of about 90 percent.

In addition to the picon, Alles also produces the Quesuco Tres Leches, with raw milk, a variety of pressed cheese and softer flavor.

Here you have more Bejes cheese photos in the Liébana Valley.




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