Turrialba cheese

This article is about the cheese from Costa Rica. For the canton, see Turrialba (canton). For the national park, see Turrialba Volcano National Park. For other uses, see Turrialba.

Turrialba cheese
Block and slices of Turrialba cheese
Country of origin	Costa Rica
Region	Turrialba canton
Town	Santa Cruz district
Source of milk	Cows milk
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Turrialba cheese is a cow's milk cheese originally from Turrialba canton, in the Cartago Province of Costa Rica, it is origin protected since 2012.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

History

Production started in the 1870s when a Spanish family headed by Lucas Vargas came from La Mancha and settled in the region of Santa Cruz, in Turrialba, to start producing cheese with the recipes they brought from their homeland.

In the 1890s rail transportation between Turrialba and the capital of San José became possible, and the Vargas family started to ship their product to San José and Cartago in wooden crates.

In 1930 Florentino Castro, a coffee producer, acquired the Hacienda El Volcán. This was the first time in the country when cheese, butter and sour cream were produced and packaged with labels for further distribution throughout the country. In the 1950s, the cheese was exported for the first time to Chile and England, along with coffee. ^[6]

References

1. Blanco, M. (2008). "La Ruta Agroturística del Queso Turrialba en Costa Rica". ECAG Informa (in Spanish).
2. Blanco, M.; Granados, L. (2007). Consultoría realizada para la FAO y el IICA en el marco del estudio conjunto sobre los productos de calidad vinculada al origen QUESO TURRIALBA (in Spanish).
3. Cascante-Sánchez, M. (2007). Concentración de queserías en las faldas del volcán Turrialba. Informe final (in Spanish). PRODAR/UNCA/IICA.
4. Granados, L.; Álvarez, C. (2007). Estudio Técnico del Queso Turrialba como denominación de Origen (in Spanish). PRODAR/UNCA/IICA.
5. Estudio Técnico del Queso Turrialba como denominación de Origen (in Spanish). Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA). 2012.
6. Aguilar, Ana Yancy (1 Jul 2018). "Turrialbeños se preparan para llevar sus mejores productos a la Expoferia del Queso". AMPRENSA.COM. Retrieved 1 Jul 2018.