Baja Cheese - A Visit to La Cava de Marcelo

We spent the day last Saturday on an expedition down to Baja with Queso Diego. Our destination was La Cava de Marcelo, a small dairy farm and cheese making operation located about 45 minutes east of Ensenada on the road to San Felipe.

As is often the case in Mexico, the trip down was a bit of an adventure with some bumps (some figurative, some literal) along the way, but we eventually found ourselves in a lovely setting - glass of wine in hand.

We took a tour of the operation, complete with the requisite calf-petting station:



a visit to the cheese-making area:



and, of course, some tasting - ricotta (good) and butter (great!) on smoky grilled bread:



The cheese cave is set down into the basement of one of the buildings:



The cave also doubles as a tasting area where we tried the pressed cheeses - plain and three flavors - basil, black pepper, and rosemary. We also tried the same basic cheese, but aged 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years.



There is also a restaurant on premises where we enjoyed a very nice dinner from their interesting and varied menu.



We picked up a round of their cracked pepper-flavored cheese to take home with us:



Cheers to Queso Diego for organizing the trip!