Positioned on a hilltop and enclosed by an ancient medieval wall, Serpas old historical center can be spotted from a distance. The dominant white of the buildings is only interrupted by the splashes of gray, yellow and blue framing the walls and windows. Cobblestone streets run through the village, where the oldest houses feature whitewashed earth walls.
The unique landscape surrounding Serpa can be recognized by its gentle, low lying hills, pastures, cork oaks, ancient olive trees and grazing sheep, cows and pigs. This landscape is known as montado the equivalent of the Spanish dehesa (celebrated for its black pigs and valuable jamon ibérico). The region is situated in southernmost Alentejo, right on the border with Estremadura.
This is also a historical area for the production of Serpa queijo, a raw sheeps milk cheese made with cardoon rennet. In Portugal and Spain the use of vegetable rennet, in contrast with other Mediterranean countries, is still common. Cardoons are harvested towards the end of spring and used from October onwards. The petals are dried in the shade then blended in a food processor (the modern substituate for the mortar and pestle that were once used) and placed in water for a day. The resulting filtered liquid is used as rennet.
Serpa is made solely from sheeps milk, predominantly from the Lacaune, a French breed that has replaced the local Merino because it is more productive and easier to manage (the former can be milked by a machine) and can be raised in free-range conditions.
Milking is done twice a day. The milk is warmed up to approximately 30-33°C and poured through a cloth filled with sea salt. This avoids the need for any further salting of the curd or the formed cheeses, unlike other sheep cheeses. After adding the rennet, producers wait 40 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on their method. The curd is then broken into pieces the size of rice grains, then drained and set into varied forms.
The cheese weighs from 200 grams to two-and-a-half kilos and range in height from 3 to 8 cm, with a diameter between 10 and 30 cm.
Finally, the forms are wrapped carefully in thin gauze that covers the entire height of the cheese, keeping the form in place and precluding the formation of cracks in the crust.

The Presidium
PDO status currently protects Serpa; however, the presidium was established to preserve the most traditional of the types of this cheese. The denomination covers a large geographic area that extends from the coast to the Spanish border, including a third of Portugal and passing by cork plantations and arid grazing lands.
The PDO standards do not require long ageing periods, only that a slice of cut cheese must make a belly towards the outer edges. The market, in fact, prefers amanteigado cheese or rather cheese with a soft and melting consistency that one eats with a spoon (a type similar to those of the other two PDO of great renown, Azeitão and Serra de Estrema).
However, traditional Serpa cheese is aged in an attic on cane mats and is consumed when mature. This rarer type of Serpa (firm and semi-firm) is markedly more interesting with more complex sensory qualities and personality.
The presidium intends to protect the traditional version of Serpa cheese. The PDO standards will have to require narrower boundaries on the historical area, indicate a minimum ageing period and give the product uniform labeling, as it is currently impossible to precisely identify the type of Serpa by sight, as under this name one finds many different cheeses.

Production Area
Lower Alentejo Region, Southern Portugal

Technical Partner:
Avec Pvs

Presidium Representative
Sérgio Serra
Tel. +35 1916131510 / +35 1933198192
saserra@gmail.com