Cheese Herreño

The current technology cheese from the island of El Hierro has its origins in the practices that came with the various populations involved in its conquest in the fifteenth century. Currently, all the cheese is produced in the milk of the Livestock Cooperative of El Hierro which has about 410 breeders with approximately 85% are goats, cattle and 5% of 10% for sheep. A very important part of production is smoked with wood from fig (Ficus carica) and trunk Tuner (Opuntia ficus indica). We carried out a sensory analysis of a representative sample of Herreño smoked cheese, matured for 7 to 15 days, using both descriptive tests conducted by seven expert tasters and by instrumental analysis using a colorimeter and texture. There is little uniformity in regard to the external visual features, there is a color banded, not well defined, ranging from white to shades of yellow. Andalusia court appearance, texture, smell, aroma and flavor were similar in all cheeses.