Culture
The story of a great cheese if ever there was one
Back in time, the locals decided that it was time to make the recipe for the famous ‘queso de flor’ a well-kept secret and took it to Montaña Alta, a small hamlet tucked away in the higher reaches of Santa María de Guía. This unbeatable and inimitable cheese was kept secret, only being passed down from one generation to other of locals, and only very rarely was it divulged to some relative who was not immediate family, but as rarely as a bad day in Maspalomas.
Then came the day when the most respected of the craft cheese-makers of Queso de Flor de Guía decided that the time had come to launch the cheese on the rest of the island, apart from on the unsuspecting tourist in the hart of Gáldar, because it was simply greedy to keep such a great product secret and that people from all over the world should be able to taste this extraordinary cheese with the best in wine from Gran Canaria and with typical dishes such as chick-pea ropa vieja and the famous salted jacket potatoes, the “papas arrugadas”.
It was decided that “queso de flor” should always be available for purchase in the bar of Santiaguito Gil and in the shop of Arturo, on the road to Gáldar, and that rich and poor, locals and foreigners alike should be afforded the opportunity to taste a splendid cheese sandwich mad with thick slices of home-made country bread and a cheese to die for.
We all know that people who have made their fortunes elsewhere and who come back with their silk slippers and their clothes made in the best shops in Europe, yearn for the good wholesome food they remember from their youth. They may have bought their fancy hats in Paris and be so unaccustomed to the sea that they now get sea sick, they may drive a big car and watch what they eat because they have a tendency to put on weight but just wait until they step down off that boat and you’ll see them lining up along with the rest to get good food at great prices. And Queso de Flor is a great food.
So that is why the cheese-makers from Montaña Alta, Tres Cruces, Barranco del Pinar, Fagagesto and Fontanales and the artisan cheesemakers from the hamlet of Marente decided to let the good news out and to back a winner: to let the whole world know that the cheese of queso de flor de Guía is out of this world.
So the news got out and the old fashioned transport on the island, the “coche de hora” took it to wherever it was ordered, to Las Palmas de GC and beyond. Try it for yourself. A cheese that can be dry and rough or smooth and sweet, like Life itself.
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