Manchego is Spain's most famous cheese, a firm, compact wheel pressed from the whole milk of Manchega sheep on the arid plateau of La Mancha. Its pale ivory to straw-yellow paste is nutty, buttery and tangy young, turning piquant, dry and crunchy with crystals as it ages, and it is ringed by an unmistakable rind stamped with the zigzag herringbone of the moulds that shape it.