A journey through the world of Caceres cheeses.

Autor Diane Cambon
Cheese shelves at Jaramillo supermarket in Valverde de la Vera

«I cannot sell a cheese without knowing where it comes from, how it has been made, and even how the goats live!»

Look at this cheese, it is smooth, a quality that raw milk confers it, and it is covered with paprika, you are going to love it.” Manuel Jaramillo is passionate about local products and a great connoisseur of one of the treasures of La Vera’s gastronomy: goat cheese. In his family store, a small supermarket located on Calle Real in the beautiful old town of Valverde de la Vera, he has set up a corner with gourmet products from different towns in the province of Caceres. These are all hand-made products, produced exclusively with raw, local materials. In his grandfather’s old fruit harvesting boxes, restored to form elegant shelves, a wide variety of delicious foods are offered, all carefully selected: organic olive oil, jams from Guijo de Santa Barbara, white asparagus from La Vera … sausages and Iberian hams. But without a doubt, cheese is the star of this enticing corner. At the moment there are about thirty types of cheeses on display, and the vast majority are goat.

Delicias del Tietar cured cheese with olive oil
Granadilla Granazul
blue cheese
Silvia Cordero cured cheese with La Vera paprika

What Manuel loves most is offering cheeses to taste. “According to what the customers entering the store tell me, from the questions they ask me, I already know what kind of cheese they will like.” And it never fails!

A taxi driver by profession, Manuel has developed this gift to take the client on a journey through a great variety of flavors. The key lies in their interest in learning about the small artisan cheese factories. Few cheese sellers in the area know the cheese-making process s much in detail as he does. “I can’t sell a cheese without knowing where it comes from, how it has been prepared, and even how goats live!” Says Manuel, who has created a close personal bond with many of the local producers over his 25-year career as a cheese merchant

He disappears, and shortly returns with a plate in hand with some wedges of cured goat cheese with olive oil from the Delicias del Tiétar brand. «This cheese is 100% handcrafted and has a limited production. The goats graze freely in the fields of La Vera, a few kilometers from Valverde. It is delicious, and since it is handmade, its flavor is never the same, it depends on what the goats eat in each season of the year. It’s wonderful! “, explains Manuel with a wide smile. Another of the jewels of his carefully selected assortment are the Granadilla cheeses, which stand out for being made with raw milk, while many of them are soft paste cheeses. “They are incredibly smooth cheeses, with little lactose, such as the Pimentonero, which is semi-fresh and looks almost like yogurt.” Among the best-sellers are the Carbonero covered with charcoal, the Granazul, a refined blue paste cheese, and the Refinado with red wine.

«Any cheese lover can find a cheese they like, but knowing how to eat it is just as important»

There is a wide sample of cheeses on display from the two great cheese factories of La Vera, the ones of Losar and of Villanueva, but also other cheeses such as Acehuche, the award-winning Silva Cordero soft paste cheese and the only Torta del Casar style cheese made of goat milk.

Any cheese lover can find a cheese they like, but knowing how to eat it is just as important,” says Manuel. This cheese taster always advises visitors, especially foreign travelers, how to preserve cheese.

Manuel in the gourmet corner of his shop Jaramilla

«A cheese evolves with time and warmth. To really appreciate a Torta de Casar, the famous award-winning Caceres soft cheeses made of merino sheep’s milk and with its own protected Denomination of Origin, it must be left out of the refrigerator one day before consumption and protected from flies with a cloth. Or, for example, a cured cheese must be spread in oil and then stored in transparent film“. Accompanied by a wood-fired bread and a wine from the Extremadura wineries or a local pitarra wine, the journey into the world of cheeses is a guaranteed success.

Shop:

SuperAhorro Jaramillo, Calle Real, 7.

Valverde de la Vera

Open from Monday to Sunday.