Getting to Know Urgèlia

This Summer the Specialty Food Association announced the sofi™ awards and the gold prize winner in the cow’s milk cheese category was CADI Urgèlia, a Spanish protected designation of origin (PDO) cheese, the only non-domestic cheese to ever come in first place. Urgèlia is the brand name, the official name is Formatge de l'Alt Urgell i la Cerdanya, which is about one of the longest names I’ve ever seen for a cheese. Speaking of names, queso is the Spanish word for cheese but fromatge, which sounds a lot like French word fromage, is the Catalan word for cheese.

Not long after I read about this cheese, I got a chance to try it, during a virtual Spanish cheese tasting hosted by Canela Restaurant and was smitten. Canela Restaurant chef/owner Mat Schuster wasn’t surprised. He describes it as a very approachable cheese adding, “It’s always really popular. It has a mushroomy, umami, earthy flavor.” In fact Urgèlia is a washed rind cheese that is aged a minimum of 45 days. The cheese is brined repeatedly during aging and when ripe, it has a semisoft paste that is pale with some small irregular holes and a moist orange brown rind. Urgèlia is mild and buttery with a semisoft consistency. In addition to mushrooms, the flavor is sometimes described as fruity with an aroma reminiscent of moss or almonds. 

I was curious to learn more about this cheese so I reached out to the distributor. Colleen Yee, marketing coordinator at Epicure Foods told me that they began importing and distributing Urgèlia in the beginning of 2017. But the backstory of Urgèlia helps to explain more of why this cheese is so unusual. Catalonia has a long history of cheesemaking, dating back to the middle ages, but Urgèlia is not one of the more ancient cheeses from the region, it’s a rather modern one that was created as a result of the phylloxera infestation in Catalonia, a region that outside of Spain, was once more known for wine than for cheese. 

According to Yee, l’Alt Urgell and Cerdanya counties in the Catalan Pyrenees primarily produced grains and grapes until the phylloxera louse arrived in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Phylloxera destroyed the cultivation of vines in Catalonia as well as the remainder of Spain so the two counties increased their production of milk, butter and cheese as a way to survive and bring the economy back, along with replanting grapes. The Cadi Cooperative was founded in 1915 and farmers from the cooperative decided to import Friesian cows, a large breed of dairy cattle that originated in the northern provinces of North Holland and West Friesland in the Netherlands, from Switzerland. Between 1940 and 1960, Urgelia was sold in Barcelona and over time the techniques for making the cheese evolved and became more modern and the quality of the cheese improved. In 2000 it was recognized as the first and still is the only PDO cheese from Catalonia. Seventy percent of Urgèlia is exported, mainly to France, but also the US, Germany, Poland and Australia. 

Now that it has won this award, it’s likely you may see more of it. It’s delicious paired with Spanish membrillo (quince paste) and other traditional Spanish ingredients such as Serrano ham but also melted on pasta, in sandwiches, gratin dishes, pizza and more. And that is the story of Urgèlia—a Spanish cheese, made with the milk from Dutch cows, imported from Switzerland in the aftermath of the phylloxera vine plague which came from France and originated in America.