La Cava de Marcelo – Cheese cellar in Baja
Posted on Mon, Jan 30, 2012 @ 03:02 PM
Baja California earned worldwide recognition because of the wine country where you can find excellent wine, but there is a special place approximately 24 miles east of Ensenada where you can taste delicious food like artisan cheese: “La Cava de Marcelo”.
After settling in the village “Real del Castillo”, Mr. Pedro Ramonetti, an Italian-Swiss immigrant started to produce cheese in 1911. Now his fourth generation, his great grandson Marcelo Castro is following the tradition and has been producing excellent artisan cheese selection. He founded “La Cava de Marcelo” a picturesque spot to learn about the cheese production. This place is a cheese cellar in which you will find excellent aged, fresh and spiced cheese. Nowadays they produce around 881 pounds a day, just enough to stay artisan and to avoid the use of chemicals on their production.
Like the vineyards the cheese cellar offers a guided tour where the whole process to produce artisan cheese it is shown; it goes from how they breed the cows to how they age the cheese for us to enjoy. Also in this tour you will visit the thirteen-feet underground cheese cellar where you can view a picture gallery from the Ramonetti’s family, next to this you will find yourself in the tasting room where delicious cheese will be waiting for you to sample.
A special feature you can find in the aged cheese is the result of the proper washing of the product early in the process combined with the moisture generated by the cellar, that maintains a fine, creamy and strong cheese with a one millimeter shell.
This is just another great spot to include in your trip to Baja!
Sources:
La cava de marcelo web page
Firco
Pictures:
La cava de marcelo web page