Queso de Cabra/ Goat Cheese

Queso de Cabras (Goat Cheese), is a specialty here in the North West of Argentina. We live in a relatively dry desert, cows are few and far in-between, but goats and sheep thrive! Much to the happiness of our wild husky dogs. Charlie and I have to be very careful wherever we hike to come across goats, as the dogs also tag team on the goats and take chunks out of their legs. Anyway, at 100 pesos a goat, it starts to get a bit expensive to take the dogs for hikes, for as much as we avoid them, inevitably, they appear in areas we think are “goat free”. What does this mean though? Amazing goat cheese!

Our quest originally began at Cabras (goats) de Cafayate, just outside of town about 3k. They have a first class place with goats all lined up at the feed troughs, automatic milkers, a great cheese making building, and now they've expanded to cow cheese as well. Quality is excellent, they've even won awards in Buenos Aires and sell their quesos in most of Argentina. They have the closest cheese to cheddar that I've found in my South America stay - between Chile and Argentina an often searched for item. They even have day tours and show their facilities to tourists and if you have always wanted to milk a cow and never had the opportunity... they will let you! We use their various quesos for several of our specialty dishes and personally eat plenty! But our search continued to find a good quality queso de cabra at a price that we could offer in our restaurant in more quantity with our many salads, meat and cheese plates and other offerings.

Living in the desert and having goats is very common here, there are lots of homemade goat cheeses. We bought several different ones from the mercados that always varied in quality and consistency until finally, a local customer told us about a goat cheese maker that has good, consistent, safe, cheese for a great price. We went to the only market they sell to and bought some and tried it out. She was certainly right.

Now with many things we experience here, once we find a resource we like, it suddenly disappears and you have to find an alternative or track down the original. I believe because we were buying so much at the market, they just sold out for over a week. After a few days of buying higher priced goat cheese, we decided it was time to track down the original provider. Things are never easy here, there's no address, there are no signs, there are no business cards, just a person saying, "Oh, I think it's somewhere in the quebrada - haven't you seen a roadside there that says they have cheese?" So, off I go in to the canyon between Cafayate and Salta on a mission to find goat cheese. Near an area where we hike (on the other side of the road), I saw a sign that said goat cheese, so I followed it. It lead me to this outdoor area that had about 5 out buildings, tons of goats, and the owners working. I spoke to a woman and asked if she had cheese and if she was the one that sold in town. She answered no on both accounts and sent me down the road near a hotel (that's out in the middle of no where), pass that through a fork in the road and there, I’ll find a house that also makes cheese. The only way to find what you are looking for is to stop and ask the locals and once you get lost, you do it again and eventually, you run in to the end of the road and your destination. 

I found 8 adobe style buildings surrounded by corrals for goats made out of the desert thicket (completely impenetrable). I roll up the windows to keep the dogs in and slide out of the car, a little hesitant as there are 10 dogs in the yard. I clap my hands (this is what you need to do when you approach a house, or a business - there’s no yelling HOLA (hello)!, you just simply clap your hands and wait). The owner’s sister comes out and I ask if she has goat cheese for sale and if I can buy some. She shows me in to the cheese making room - spotless and clean and extremely cool (which by the standers of all houses and buildings here is no shock), and stacks of cheese waiting to be weighed and sold. So in an end to my trip, after stopping a few stops to find it, I found the best goat cheese to buy for our restaurant! All in all a great excuse to do restaurant business, without being in the restaurant. Plus the dogs got a good run in after (no where near the goats!)