Cuajada

Cuajada

Type	milk curd
Place of origin	Spain
Main ingredients	Ewe's milk or cow's milk
Media: Cuajada

Cuajada (milk curd) is a cheese product. Traditionally it is made from ewe's milk, but now it is more often made industrially from cow's milk. It is popular in the northern regions of Spain (Asturias, Basque Country, Navarre, Aragon, Castile and Leon, La Rioja). In Latin America it is popular in Colombia and in the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Raw warmed milk is mixed with rennet or plant extracts and left to curdle. It was traditionally made in a wooden vessel called 'kaiku' and heated with a red-hot poker, giving it a distinct faintly burned taste. Cuajada means 'curdled' in Spanish. In Basque, it is called mamia.

Cuajada is usually served as dessert with honey and walnuts or sometimes sugar, and, less often, for breakfast with fruit or honey. In Colombia, it is typically served with melado, a thick syrup made of panela. In Nicaragua salt is usually added to the cuajada, which is eaten with güirilas and other dishes

Coalhada

A similar product named coalhada, Portuguese for 'curdled', is found mostly in Brazil, especially in rural areas, where traditional recipes are more common. It is made from curdled milk (specifically from putting acidic plant-based substances such as lemon juice, other citrus juice or vinegar on boiled milk, mainly those of cattle or goat) and yogurt. Recipes vary but usually contain sugar and/or fruit juices for sweetness.

See also

• List of Brazilian dishes
• Nicaraguan cuisine
• List of dairy products
• Junket