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Certamen del Queso de Cabrales
On the last Sunday of August in Arenas de Cabrales, the best cave-ripened blue of the year is judged and auctioned.
Cheeses for Certamen del Queso de Cabrales
Every last Sunday of August since 1968, Arenas de Cabrales in Asturias has held its cheese contest, which closes a week of talks, cave visits and music. Cabrales is a blue cheese of cow's milk, sometimes mixed with goat's and sheep's milk, ripened for months in limestone caves in the Picos de Europa, where natural moulds and cold, damp air give it its sharp flavour and blue veins. The winning cheese is auctioned on the day, and in recent years it has sold for record sums, with part of the money given to charity. The festival is a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest.
The cheeses
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Cabrales" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Cabrales: PDPhoto.org, Public domain, source