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Despite Spain's singular affinity for sheep's milk cheeses, they are second only to Greece in the EU for producing goat's milk, most of which goes to make a menu of enticing and unique cheeses. In fact, according to Spanish cheese authority Mariano Sanz Pech, more than a third of Spain's most traditional cheeses include goat's milk, either exclusively or as part of the mix (mixed-milk cheeses in general account for more than 50 percent of all cheeses produced in Spain). Since the 1950s, goat's milk has been used to supplement the milk from cows and/or sheep in many cheeses, including Ibérico, the most widely consumed cheese in Spain and one that is quickly establishing an audience here in the U.S. (see "All Cheese Considered" May, 2005), and Cabrales, the intensely flavored blue cheese from the Europa mountains in Asturias.

Goats (cabras in Castilian Spanish) have thrived on the Iberian Peninsula for as long as anyone has kept track, although it has only been in the past century or so that they have been accorded any respect among gourmets. Derisively referred to as "the poor man's cow," goats were traditionally the provinces of the peasant class, usually offering the difference between a meager existence and none at all. Goats, of course, are unique for their ability to transform the meager flora of tough, arid landscapes into rich milk and meat. The long-held notion that goats are walking garbage bins is a fallacy. They have a highly developed sense of sight, smell, and taste and a very discerning palate. They will often eschew easy fodder on the ground in favor of tender young shoots on trees for which they must stand on their hind legs to reach, not an uncommon sight for those who have spent any time around goats. Their varied diet is evident in the subtle differences in texture, aroma, and flavor from area to area and from breed to breed.

In addition to the cheeses in which goat's milk is merely a component, there are several outstanding goat cheeses from Spain that can stand toe to toe with the world's best. Emanating from Cataluña's Gerona region in the northeast is Garrotxa, a deliciously chalky-white cheese that is covered by a distinctive blue-gray, downy mold that forms naturally in the humid forest area. It is aged for at least three weeks and usually several more. Garrotxa had virtually disappeared until a small cooperative of goat farmers joined together to reintroduce the cheese. Proceeding down the Mediterranean coast to Murcia, we find Queso de Murcia al vino, a creamy cheese that is washed with the robust local red wine, providing a stark contrast between the white cheese and the crimson rind. The austere region of Extremadura makes Ibores, a fantastic, slightly aged, raw-milk cheese with a buttery flavor and a rind formed by rubbing the cheese with either olive oil or pimentón de la Vera, the region's smoky paprika. This cheese was once made by the somewhat nomadic goat herders of the region who would sell it to cheesemongers who would then mature the cheese and resell it. Today, it is made in small, modern dairies by a cooperative of goat herders. Another unique goat cheese, Majorero, comes from the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. Majorero was the first goat cheese in Spain to be awarded a Denomination of Origin distinction. Here the Majorera goats find sustenance in the volcanic terrain's outcroppings and in semiarid pastures that are rich with volcanic soil; they produce milk that is thick, aromatic, and high in fat. The cheese — made with either raw or pasteurized milk — is semi-firm and very flavorful, with hints of nuts and dried fruit. One could easily make a show-stopping cheese platter using only goat cheeses of Spain, with enough variation of texture, size, and flavor to excite the palate. They go brilliantly with toasted nuts, fresh or dried fruit, crusty bread, and wine, and of course, a variety of the excellent other foods from Spain that are increasingly available here in gourmet stores across the country.