Flavors of Portugal

All about portuguese cheese > Evora

Évora cheese is a Portuguese cheese from the city of Évora, the capital of the province of Alto Alentejo, about 150 km east of Lisbon. It is a protected designation of origin according to European Union standards.

Made with sheep’s milk, it is a hard, semi-hard, yellowish-aged cheese that darkens on contact with the air, with a slightly sour and slightly spicy flavor. The crust may be smooth or a little rough. Its production involves the coagulation of raw milk, after which the curds are depleted using the action of the thistle.

These small (100-150 g) hard cheeses are fairly strong and salty and split into strips under a knife. Also known as "queijinhos do Alentejo" (little cheeses from Alentejo), they are sometimes preserved in olive oil and are then less hard.