Gastronomy

Llanes Cheeses

The Sierra del Cuera, the valleys, the greenery and the misty rain are together the “mother” of the cheeses produced here. Thus the “father” of the cheese is represented by the people of the area, who, with the passage of time have almost consecrated the traditions of cheese making. This in itself is as varied as the regions and the customs which form part of the Llaniscan life.

This rich variety of cheese can be enjoyed both at the sidrerias and restaurants as well as in the local market. It can be bought by weight and taken home to enjoy! The local weekly market is still very much alive and can be found in various villages in the borough, each according to its day. Other major events in the calendar also celebrate this local delicacy: The trade fair, organised in the town of Llanes at Easter the Eastern Asturias Cheese Competition (First Sunday in August in Llanes) of the Countryside Fair (third Sunday in August in Posada.) On the other hand there are specialist cheese shops which make your purchase very easy a delicious gift to savour when once again at home

In the borough of Llanes you can find cheeses whose manufacture has been handed down through the generations: the queso fresco de Porrúa (the fresh cheese from Porrúa (which also comes cured), the soft and creamy queso de Vidiago (Vidiago cheese) or the famous Ahumado de Pría (smoked cheese of Pría) These villages which give their name to these cheese also make other varieties for the more curious among us. Cheeses like l Three Leches, (Three milks) or the Flor de Texu (flower of Texu) (a cheese with a shape similar to that of the tetilla), goat´s cheese from "Cuevas del Mar" and the soft goat´s cheese from "La Cuevona". All of these are made in the cheese making factory of Inés Granda de Pría.  A newer cheese is that of San Roque del Acebal, made with cow’s milk and the blue Pie de la Sierra, (made of goat’s milk) made by Granja Los Cuetos in Puertas de Vidiago. Also famous are the cheeses made in the cheese factory at Bedón which produces cheese of cow’s milk, cow’s and goat’s milk, goat’s milk cheese and cottage cheese.

This culture of cheese, “quesu" (Asturian language version of the Castellano word, queso, cheese) and the processes of creating it are really very well explained together with other topics of interest in The Ethnographic Museum of Asturias in Porrúa. This has to be more or less an obligatory visit for the tourist in the borough of Llanes since it will help the visitor understand much better all that he or she is seeing, feeling and eating!