A single two-kilogramme block of one of the world’s rarest cheeses has gone under the hammer for an astonishing world record-breaking EUR 30,000.
The blue cheese can only be made from a blend of unpasteurised milk from cows, sheep and goats grazing on mountain pastures in Spain’s Picos de Europa range.
Makers leave the cheese – called Cabrales – to mature in 9,000-foot-high mountain caves for four months before they can be removed and sold.
The cheese is so prized that it is sold at auction every year, and it was traditionally wrapped in Sycamore Maple Leafs.
Modern health regulations, however, mean it now has to be covered in dark green aluminium foil.
A Guinness world record for a single block of the cheese was set in August 2018 when a 5.78 lb (2.62 kg) cheese from the Valfríu cheese factory sold for EUR 14,300 (GBP 12,260).
That record was broken in 2020 when a similar cheese sold for EUR 20,500 (GBP 17,577).
But now even that record has been smashed with the sale of a single 2.2-kilogramme block of Cabrales for an incredible EUR 30,000 (GBP 25,723) to a restaurant owner.
The buyer is a restaurant located in Llagar de Colloto, in Oviedo, in the northern Spanish region of Asturias.
Event organisers in Arena de Cabrales confirmed the price and added that Guinness had been notified to update their records.
Cheese festival judges had earlier judged the Cabrales – from the Los Puertos producers – the best in show.
Cabrales cheese has been guarded by the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) system since 1981.
It is the most well-known of more than 300 cheeses produced in Spain’s Asturias mountains.
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Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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