Reino Cheese

In the nineteenth century, edam Dutch cheese arrived in Brazil coming from Portugal – that is, “do reino” (literally, “from the kingdom”). In 1888, when
Mantiqueira Dairy Company was open in the current city of Santos Dumont, Minas Gerais, it adapted the manufacturing techniques of the imported cheese and named the resulting product with the popularly known expression. The charming red can that holds the cheese mimics the waxy cheese rind of the same color. It is a protective layer for the semi-hard interior made of pasteurized cow’s milk, with a texture somewhat drier than edam, deep yellow colored, and with a spicy, strong flavor.