Ossau Iraty: Why to try before you buy!

Ossau Iraty is definitely one of those try-before-you-buy cheeses. Why? Its flavor profile can change drastically from one wheel to the next. Before I get into that, let me give you a quick rundown on this cheese. Ossau Iraty is a raw sheep’s milk cheese made in the Pyrenees region of France. It received AOC protection in 1980. This protection ensures the cheese is made in the same region and that cheesemakers adhere to a specific method and recipe when making it. The rules on cheesemaking are so precise, in fact, that Ossau Iraty can only be made from the milk of two breeds of sheep: Manech and Basco-Béarnaise. So you’d expect some pretty consistent flavor because of all this, right? Wrong!

What transforms the taste is the sheep’s diet at the time their milk was produced. You can expect nutty and fruity notes in wheels made from winter milk and grassy, floral notes within the summer batch! 

We just cut into a brand new wheel of Istara Ossau Iraty and we’re getting rich and creamy hints of peanut butter! Try this cheese on its own or smother it with some Big Spoon Chocolate & Sea Salt Almond Butter to amplify that nutty goodness!