Esquirrou’s flavor rings like the bell it’s named after. One bite and you can practically hear the delightful chime from the Basque ewes that produce the milk. Aged for at least six months, this Ossau-Iraty PDO cheese gives off the sweet and rustic smell of hay. An amber rind wraps around a firm ivory inside that is ripe with nutty notes and a nose of herbaceous toasted wheat. Enjoy the rich taste of milk from the black- and red-faced Manech sheep: emanating the ideal balance of the environment’s elements.

Hard, pressed ewe’s cheese are the most common type of cheese in the Pyrenées, and among those, Ossau Iraty has become one of the best-known cheeses thanks to its tantalizing taste, resulting from thorough rubbing, and its creamy texture for a hard cheese.

Ossau Iraty is made with whole ewe’s milk and is aged for at least six months. During this time, it is regularly rubbed and turned around, while its paste is pressed. This process allows it to develop mouth-watering nutty notes. It is taste-tested throughout the whole process so it is only released for retail sale when it has reached complete maturity.

The cheese has an amber rind, under which you’ll find a rich ivory paste, with nutty notes and the aroma of toasted wheat. You can tell it’s an Esquirrou cheese by the stamps laid beautifully on the rind of the wheel.

This recipe has been perfected during a hundred years of cheesemaking history in the Pays Basque. Ossau Iraty, despite being a hard cheese, retains a characteristic creaminess that has conquered the palates of cheese lovers all over the world.