Roncal
Cheese
Top 10 pairings
Roncal is a firm, pressed raw sheep's-milk cheese from the Roncal Valley in the Navarrese Pyrenees of Spain — Spain's first protected-origin cheese. Aged at least four months, it is dense, slightly granular and pleasantly piquant, with a buttery, nutty depth and a long sharp finish.
Picking a good onedrag
Hard rind, compact ivory cutCracked, sweating, stray mould
Wrapped wedgeEveryday bestRaw sheep's milk. US CDC: pregnant, 65+ and immunocompromised people eat raw-milk cheese only steaming hot. UK NHS: hard raw-milk cheese is fine in pregnancy.
The cut faceColour true, the open face a shade duller
The rindHard and whole, scuffed where it was handled
Smell at the cutTrue to the cheese, the sharpness a little muted