Portugal · Fermentation craft; Dairy craft; Azorean heritage
Queijo de São Jorge
The making of Queijo de São Jorge — a firm, sharp, well-aged cow's milk cheese from São Jorge island in the Azores, made using a technique brought by Flemish settlers in the 15th century and adapted to the island's distinct volcanic pasture. Unlike the mainland Portuguese cheeses (Serra da Estrela CRAFT-1126, which uses cardoon vegetable rennet), São Jorge uses traditional animal rennet and a long aging period (minimum 3 months, often much longer) that produces a hard, piquant cheese closer in character to a Dutch Gouda or aged cheddar than to any mainland Portuguese tradition. The queijeiro reads the rind development by a combination of color and a specific knuckle-tap resonance test.
Risk level: Stable · Not listed; DOP Queijo São Jorge 1996
The making of Port wine in the Douro Valley — the world's oldest demarcated wine region (1756; 17 years before Chianti and 221 years before Napa Valley AVA).
The making of wool-embroidered linen carpets in Arraiolos (Alentejo) — a tradition of embroidering thick wool yarn in a specific crossed stitch (ponto de Arraiolos — the defining Portuguese needlepoint stitch) onto a loosely woven linen…
Bobbin lace (renda de bilros) from the Minho and Centro regions of Portugal — a tradition with two distinct centers: Viana do Castelo and Barcelos (Minho) for the floral geometric Minhota vocabulary; and Peniche (Centro) for the more…
The making of Alentejo bread (pão alentejano) in a wood-fired oven — a sourdough bread of extraordinary density and crust thickness, made from Alentejo wheat flour (trigo mole alentejano) and a natural levain (massa velha — old dough).
The quarrying and carving of Alentejo white and pink marble (mármore de Estremoz and Borba) — the material of the Portuguese royal palaces; the most prestigious Iberian marble and one of the most sought-after marbles in the world.
The making of the guitarra portuguesa — the 12-string pear-shaped plucked instrument that is the primary melodic voice of fado.
The pressing of extra virgin olive oil in the traditional stone mill and hydraulic press almazara of Jaén — the province that produces more olive oil than any country outside Spain.
A complement to the Munich lager brewing record (CRAFT-1191), documenting the distinctly different yeast management tradition of Bavarian Weissbier (wheat beer) — the top-fermenting beer style specifically protected in Bavaria until 1798…
The making of Allgäuer Emmentaler — the large-format (80–120kg) hard cheese of the Allgäu Alpine region, one of the few Emmentaler traditions outside Switzerland (and the German counterpart to the Portuguese São Jorge CRAFT-1138 in the…
Hand-harvesting of Damask rose (Rosa damascena) blossoms at dawn in the Kazanlak area and their distillation with water, the vapours being condensed and redistilled to separate the rose oil.
The Irish whiskey distilling tradition — the production of the distinctive Irish whiskey through triple pot still distillation of a mash containing unmalted barley (the specific Irish contribution to world whiskey production that…
Hydro-distillation of flowers, herbs, woods or baked earth in a copper still (deg) whose vapour travels through a bamboo pipe (chonga) into a copper receiver (bhapka) already charged with a base oil, traditionally sandalwood.