The hunt for “queso fresco” continues

When I lived in Spain, I lived with a wonderful family who graciously served me hundreds of meals during my stay. It is their custom to eat a late, light dinner, which we generally followed with some nice long conversation. During this time, my host mother Loli would often bring out some fruit and cheese (often “queso fresco”). After she found out how much I liked the particular cheese, she would bring it out after every meal and force me to eat some (she took a lot of pride in the weight I gained during my stay in her house). Of course, I could never resist, because I loved it. Loved it.

Since then, I have examined the cheese selection in every country that I’ve visited, hoping to find something remotely similar. The closest I came was the “queso fresco” in Mexico, but it was not nearly young or soft enough. I was elated to find some “formaggio fresco” here in Lugano recently and just today brought it out to for lunch. This cheese was spreadable, slightly gritty, and also tasted like horseradish (in my excitement to purchase the cheese, I missed the “al rafano” in smaller lettering below “fomaggio fresco”). Yummy, but disappointing.



So, I will continue my pleasant quest to find a cheese similar to the queso fresco I grew fat on in Spain. Whenever I asked for more details about the cheese, Loli would simply say it was fresh cheese from cow’s milk, baffled by my confusion. It is similar to fresh mozzarella (of which there’s plenty here) but somehow lighter, milder. It’s a cheese you could eat with anything, ad infinitum. It’s a cheese that, among other things, will bring me back to Spain someday.