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Queijo PDO
They currently have around 15 PDO and PGI status cheeses in Portugal. I tried a few in Lisbon this March 2016 and will be adding them to the site over the coming months. If you go to Lisbon try the local iberico ham and cheese sandwiches in the market of Praca da Figueira. Pan de Mafra bread, long slices of ham and cheese soften in the sun, scouped out of the skin and spread on the bread. You can just see the hollowed out round of cheese in the top right of the photo above.
Here the bread and ham wait for the the soft cheese but not for long the queues at lunch time soon soon put pay to the entire stack. We had Queijo de cabra, goats cheese. It was very different to my past experience of goats cheese, more like the consistancy of Port Salute and more buttery in colour and taste.
I am really surprised by the quantity, quality and tradition of Portuguese food, there are hundreds of cheese with hundreds of years of heritage go with them. I can’t wait to go back there next year and sample some more rare and rural cheeses and maybe some local wines to go with them.
We can highly recommend a visit to Portugal, our own experience only covers a small area, uspoilt hilly Porto in the north, further south Sintra with it’s pastel coloured castles, down the Atlantic coast, through the stunning national park to the stylish Cascais and Historic Lisbon. The People have long been friends of the British with a treaty going back to 1400s. The food is excellent and the wine some of the best in the world.
Flights are cheap and it’s easy to wine and dine there without breaking the bank.
If you want to buy Portuguese products in the uk there’s a few options.
You can find more Portuguese products here on Protectedfoods.