The Cheese Country of Cajamarca

The valleys around Cajamarca have been dairy country for more than a century, and the town's cheese shops cluster so tightly that people name the block by the trade rather than the street. The local speciality is queso mantecoso, made by pressing and working soured quesillo curd into a dense buttery paste, sold in cylinders and cut to order. Beside it sit fresh quesillo eaten with honey or cane syrup, aged wheels, herb-rolled cheeses, butter and manjarblanco boiled down in copper pans until it holds a spoon. Dairies in the Porcón and Jesús valleys sell at the gate, and the surrounding pastureland is why the town is green.

What you actually see

• Queso mantecoso - the pressed buttery cheese cut from cylinders to order.
• Quesillo with honey - the fresh curd cheese eaten with cane syrup.
• Manjarblanco - milk caramel boiled down in copper and sold by the jar.
• The dairy valleys - Porcón and Jesús, where farms sell direct at the gate.

When to go

Year-round; milk does not have a season here. Shops open through the day and close in the evening, and Sunday mornings are busiest with people in from the countryside. If you want to see the farm end of it, the valley dairies want a morning visit, since the day's work is largely done by early afternoon.

Honest expectations

Shopkeepers hand out samples freely and expect a purchase afterwards, and refusing after four tastings is awkward by design. Mantecoso is unpasteurised in many shops, is not vacuum-packed, and will not survive a warm day in a bag or clear customs at the other end. Quality between neighbouring shops varies far more than the identical shopfronts suggest, so taste before committing to a kilo.

Nearby

Cajamarca's colonial centre, the Cumbemayo canal and the Porcón forest road.