What is Queijo de Coalho?

Queijo de Coalho, also called Queijo coalho, is Brazilian cheese produced mainly in the northeast Brazil. It can be eaten fresh, baked or included in baked or fried meals. Queijo de Coalho is translated as "cheese curd", "cheese on the farm" or "cheese rennet", produced from the whole cow's milk.

Farmers in the Brazilian states of Ceará, Rio Grande to Norte, Paraiba, Pernambuco and Bahia produced Queijo de Coalho for about a century. Popular history in the region says that cheese was discovered by travelers who carried milk in bags made from animal stomachs. When it was transported, the milk coagulated and turned to the cheese, which was found as a tasty way to maintain milk. Local farmers can still produce cheese as a way to keep milk for transport, but now they are also produced industrially.

for the production of cheese, a rennet - an enzyme that helps shape milk into cottage cheese - was originally extracted from the stomach of the local rodent called Moco or from the stomachs of other animals. MAle farms can still use Rennet from animal stomachs, but larger Queijo de Coalho manufacturers use industrial rennet. The typical process of making cheese in large or small batches includes milk pasteurization, adding a rennet, allowing the shaping of curd, separating the curd from whey, and then salting, forming and pressed cheeses.

After the cheeses are pressed, they are usually ripened for up to a month, but they can also eat fresh. Queijo Coalho forms a soft bark and can be stored for one year. However, longer storage time causes drying of cheese.

Queijo de Coalho tastes salty and somewhat acidic and may feel "sanding" when it is consumed. It's a half-hard cheese, but the lights are also very light. The cheese is commonly sold in cylindrical or an anterior blocks that weigh between 1.1 and 3.3 pounds (about 0.5 and 1.5 kg).

baked Queijo de Coalho is a popular refreshment sold on a stick from PR PROther beaches in Brazil. The cheese is browned in pocket furnaces - does not melt when heated - and sometimes add different flavors. The local fairs are also sold fresh or ripening. In addition to eating fresh or baked, the cheese can be used as a ingredient in many meals such as cheese bread.