World’s most expensive cheese sets record after selling for £25,000: ‘We knew we had a good one’
Snobs of all types gather – the world record for the most expensive cheese has been broken.
In a land far away from Cheestrings and grated parmesan that is actually wood pulp, the Cabrales blue cheese of northern Spain scaled new heights this week when a 2.2kg wheel fetched €30,000 (£25,000) at auction.
It also earned the title of best Cabrales of the year at Las Arenas principality’s 51st annual competition.
The delicacy was made by Guillermo Pendás for his family’s Los Puertos factory.
‘We knew we had a good cheese but also that it is very difficult to win,’ he told EFE news agency.
Rosa Vada, Guillermo’s mum and owner of the company, said the cheese had been matured in a cave at an altitude of 1,400 metres, at a temperature of 7°C, where it spent ‘a minimum of eight months’.
The wheel was sold to Iván Suárez, the owner of El Llagar de Colloto, a restaurant near Oviedo, Asturias.
He said: ‘The passion for the land and recognising the work of the cheesemakers made me raise the bid.’
The previous Guinness World Record was also a block of Cabrales, set at €20,500 in 2019.
Cheese can only truly be called Cabrales if it is produced in that administrative region. It is just one of the reasons why it is so expensive.
The usual price is €35 to €40 a kilo, which probably does not fully capture the effort that goes into each wheel.
It is made from whole, raw cows’ milk, or from mixtures of two or three types – cows’, ewes’ and goats’ milk.
Ripening lasts for a minimum of two months and takes place in natural caves.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.