Gamoneu Cheese

Gamoneu Cheese

It is a fatty, matured cheese with a natural rind, which can be made with cow’s, sheep’s, and/or goat’s milk. It is lightly smoked and has slight Penicillium blooms along the edges. Gamoneu becomes a blue-veined cheese after a long aging period in the cave. With a shorter maturation time, it is predominantly white to yellowish in color, with greenish-blue veins of Penicillium spreading from the outside toward the center. The paste is semi-hard and crumbly, with a strong but not overpowering aroma, and smoky notes. Some wheels are quite large, weighing up to eight kilograms, with an intense smoky aroma and a spicy flavor

2057,2054

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iain

Asturian,Spanish

Intangible

790

Queso Gamoneu

18/12/2025

19/12/2025

González-Álvarez, M. (2015). Denominaciones de Origen y Parques Nacionales: actividad quesera en Picos de Europa. Revista de humanidades (25), 57-84. Monesma, E. (2003). La vida de los pastores de los Picos de Europa y el queso de Gamoneu. Oficios Perdidos. Documental. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTFXabGx6Ro Oliveira e Oliveira, T. C. D. (2023). Revalorização de alimentos símbolo de comunidades-território. Os casos do mel virgem de abelhas Pisilnekmej no território maseual (México) e do queijo Gamonéu de pastores de Picos de Europa (Espanha). Prieto, D. (2019). La Escuela de Pastores de Picos de Europa: revitalizando la cultura de pastoreo quesero. PH: Boletín del Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico, 27(98), 298-307. Polledo, M. (2024). Evidencias arqueológicas de actividad humana en áreas de alta montaña: los Picos de Europa y su entorno durante la prehistoria. En RUIZ-FERNÁNDEZ, J., LUELMO-LAUTENSCHLAEGER, R., PÉREZ-DÍAZ, S., GARCÍA-HERNÁNDEZ, C., LÓPEZ-SÁEZ, J.A., ALBA-SÁNCHEZ, F., GALLINAR, D., RUIZ-ALONSO, M., GARCÍA, A., GONZÁLEZDÍAZ, B., (Eds.) Socio-ecología, arqueología y geohistoria de los paisajes de montaña ibéricos: una mirada multidisciplinar. Oviedo: CeCodet (Universidad de Oviedo) – Ed. Trabe. págs. 491–507. Valle, F. (2007). Quesos artesanos de la comarca oriente de Asturias. Llanes: Consorcio del Oriente de Asturias.

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University of St Andrews

TEXT

All of this intricate system—the high mountain livestock culture, the relationship between human beings and their natural environment expressed through culture—ultimately materializes in each and every wheel of cheese. Around the making of Gamoneu cheeses, a whole set of unique elements has taken shape over the decades and across generations: aging in natural caves, traditional architecture of the majadas, the social structures that developed within them, the shaping of the vegas (highland meadows), the coexistence of humans, domestic animals, and wild fauna, and even a distinct culinary tradition. Era também um alimento asociado a festividades importantes da comunidade: “En las bodas […] el postre era queso de Gamonéu […] cuñas de queso de Gamonéu.

Carmen Pérez Maestro

Raising and grazing (of cows, goats, and sheep), milking, and the production of cheese itself

The entire process is a tradition passed down through families.

Currently, within the DOP (Protected Designation of Origin), there are 4 producers of queso del Puerto and 18 producers of queso del Valle. In the past, the entire family was involved in the process: the men (fathers, grandfathers, children) in the grazing and cheese-making, and the women (grandmothers, mothers, and girls) in the maintenance tasks and, to a lesser extent, in cheese production. Today, it is mainly couples, as young people study outside rural areas. Women have increasingly joined in the cheese-making process as well as its distribution and sale at markets. Regarding the decline in the number of shepherds, the Picos de Europa Shepherd School was created in 2004, reflecting the concerns voiced by shepherds from the Asturian municipalities within the National Park’s sphere of influence. Its core initiative has been an Introductory Course in Alpine Shepherding, designed to encourage a new generation to take up the profession. By showcasing the value of this role, the school seeks to reinvigorate the region, curb the pressing depopulation trend, stimulate the local economy, and help preserve the traditional landscape (Prieto, 2019). The coexistence of extensive livestock farming and large predators is one of the most important social conflicts now affecting this tradition. In this context, we highlight an initiative created by three biologists, Les Mastines, a solidarity project aimed at promoting practical solutions with an effective and positive impact both on livestock farming and on the local wildlife. It focuses on assisting through surveillance and protection of herds that are vulnerable to attacks by large predators.

Traditional practices, such as livestock farming, which have long been known as short-distance transhumance, involve moving herds and shepherds every year from the valleys to the highlands in search of prized high mountain pastures for the livestock. This process also results in the production of artisanal cheeses, which are the livelihood of the families dedicated to this work. Associated with this tradition and aimed at tourists, there is a festival declared a 'tourist attraction' called 'The Shepherd's Day,' celebrated as a tribute to the shepherds of the Picos de Europa. It brings together people dedicated to this tradition and tourists

The management of high-altitude pastures in the Asturian mountains has been documented since the late prehistoric period (Polledo, 2024). Although no archaeological evidence specifically documenting the production of cheese (ceramic cheese-making vessels) has been found in this area, as has been documented in other locations since the Neolithic period, it is assumed that cheese was one of the products made by the high mountain shepherds. Since the 17th century, this cheese has served as a basic sustenance 'for the poor of the council,' as expressed in records from the 18th century. The name 'Gamonéu,' which seems to be recent, refers to two homonymous villages: Gamonéu de Cangas and Gamonéu de Onís. The most significant changes in land management, and consequently in the production of dairy products in this area, occurred in the early 20th century with the creation of the 'Picos de Europa National Park,' which intersected with the social history of shepherd-cheesemakers, breaking the integrity of the community management system and the way of life that was inseparable from it. The conservationist ideas of the landscape in the established national parks in Spain, in this case, made the shepherding community vulnerable by assuming official entities took over the management of the land. It is estimated that from the mid-1950s to 2018, the number of shepherds in the region decreased from 100 to 11 (Prieto, 2019). The main factors behind the decline in Gamonéu‑cheese production have been: wolf attacks; the shrinking of grazing land inside the National Park because controlled burning to renew pastures is now forbidden; the drop in goat and sheep numbers; and the lack of generational succession to keep the shepherd‑cheesemaker trade alive. In 2003 the Asturian regional government created the Gamonéu PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) to valorize and safeguard this cheese and to stimulate the area’s production sector—an initiative that has especially benefited the valle

The Association of Artisan Cheesemakers of the Principality of Asturias is a non-profit, regionally based organization founded in 1991. There are eight producers of Gamoneu cheese who are members of this association. The Brotherhood of Friends of Gamoneu Cheese is made up of a group of friends who, without any profit motive, support, promote, and take pleasure in sharing everything related to the world of Gamoneu cheese.

Gamoneu cheese is produced in two distinct zones: Gamoneu del Puertu, which preserves the ancestral cheesemaking tradition of the Picos de Europa region, and Gamoneu del Valle, which is made in small dairies located in the lower areas of the municipalities of Onís and Cangas de Onís. Gamoneu del Valle cheeses are smaller in size than those from the Puertu, but they are produced year-round. In autumn, the cheeses reach their optimal point of maturity, which is why producers attend fairs held in the capitals of their respective municipalities. Cangas de Onís celebrates the Feria del Pilar on October 12th, featuring the Exhibition and Contest of Picos de Europa Cheeses. In Benia de Onís, the Annual Gamoneu Cheese Festival takes place on the third Sunday of October.

Reduced practice

The number of high‑mountain (‘puerto’) cheese producers has fallen because the area where they work was declared a national park and because of wolf predation.

Lack of conservation policy,Threatening regional planning policies

An overly conservationist policy applied to a territory whose landscape has been shaped by humans since prehistoric times

Rural-urban migration

The sons and daughters of the families devoted to this tradition no longer wish to carry it on because of its harshness; they move away to study in the cities

Loss of cultural spaces

Again, this is largely due to strict environmental conservation policies

Gamoneu cheese is traditionally made by seasonal transhumant shepherds on the maritime slope of the Picos de Europa, a region that currently forms part of the political territory of the autonomous community of the Principality of Asturias, specifically in the municipalities of Onís and Cangas de Onís. It is a high mountain landscape characterized not only by its steepness, but also by its majadas—places where pastures have traditionally been used for cows, goats, and sheep. These meadows or valleys have also been shaped by human activity through stone constructions used for livestock and shepherds during the summer season. This cheese holds great importance for the local community. Its production involves a mixture of three types of milk: goat, cow, and sheep. There are two varieties: Gamoneu del Valle and Gamoneu del Puerto. The different types of milk used in the production of Gamoneu del Puerto come from herds that graze in the vegas or majadas of the northwestern areas of the Picos de Europa National Park. The livestock feeds exclusively by grazing in the highest mountain pastures of these territories. To produce Gamoneu del Puerto cheese, at least two types of milk from the three—cow, sheep, and goat—must be mixed, with a minimum of 10% being sheep and/or goat milk. The production of Gamoneu del Puerto is seasonal due to the weather conditions and the difficulty of grazing in winter, so its production is limited to the spring and summer months. For this reason, the production volume of this variety is lower compared to Gamoneu del Valle. This variety, like Gamoneu del Puerto, is made following the eight essential steps for Gamoneu cheese production: mixing the milk, letting it rest and curdle to form a solid mass, cutting and draining the whey, molding, salting, slow drying and smoking, and finally aging in a cave, where the cheeses mature for a month and acquire their final flavor thanks to the action of fungi and yeasts. Another difference from Gamoneu del

"Arnios" or molds made of plastic or metal are used, although wooden ones are still in use as well. The "artesa" is a wooden piece designed to collect the whey released by the cheese. The "presugo" is a thin board that allows the cheese to be easily flipped. The "talameras" are shelves placed inside the cabin above the hearth or fire, where the heat and smoke slowly dry the cheeses.

It contributes to community development, since this activity provides a livelihood for several families in a rural mountain area

It contributes to sustainable environmental stewardship thanks to traditional livestock husbandry and the handcrafted cheese‑making process.

It is an economically sustainable activity for the families who practice it.

Zero Hunger,Good Health and Wellbeing,Clean Water and Sanitation,Affordable and Clean Energy,Life On Land

Onís y Cangas de Onís, Asturias, Spain.

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