QUESO DE BOLA ~ a "must" for the Noche Buena celebration

Hmm...so what "brand" of  Queso De Bola  do you prefer, guys??

This is "Marca Pato".

And this is "Marca Piña".
Do you like this, too??
Funny...but I think it all tastes the same?!!
hehehe ☺

our one-of-a-kind "Queso de Bola"

How many of us take for granted the existence of "Queso De Bola", that beloved ball of cheese wrapped in red paraffin that no respectable Filipino home would be without on Christmas?

How many are aware that this "Queso De Bola" is the only one of its kind in the world, custom-made for the Philippines through the decades?

In 1898, while our country was waging a revolution against Spain, a quiet but also important revolution was beginning in the farmlands of Holland, with a small group of farmers forming a cooperative that, today, is the largest producer of dairy products in the world.

It became the biggest after the merger of two reigning dairy giants "Royal Friesland" from the north and "Campina" from the south, to be known as "Royal Friesland Campina".

Beginnings

The story of the beginnings of the Marca Pina Queso de Bola is equally engaging.

According to its founders, the name was apparently coined by Dr.Frederick Zuellig, a Swiss immigrant to the Philippines, who founded the Zuellig Pharmaceuticals in the early 1900's.

The company's food division began importing this mature cheese shipped in crates and with salt added as preservative in the long journey from the Netherlands to the Philippines in the late '30s.

The Queso de Bola became so popular that it became regular fare during Christmas, served with Ham, Pan De Sal, or Ensaymada and "tsokolate" (hot chocolate drink).

When Zuellig dissolved its food division to concentrate on pharmaceuticals, the exportation from Holland continued with various merchants, notably Chinese, distributing the product until the current Wilmington group took over in 2001.

The Wilmington group produces the Marca Pina Queso de Bola only for the Philippines, as it is especially made for the Filipino palate: around 250 million kgs. are exported to the Philippines each year ~ a drop, really, in the bucket of a company of 70,000 member farmers producing 11.7 billion kilograms of dairy products.

Marca Pina, according to its founders, can only be made from winter milk, meaning from cows who stay inside during the winter months, because if we use the milk of summer, the milk will collapse.

It has a 24-week maturity and 3.8 salt content, which is unique and only sold here in the Philippines.

Even balikbayans buy here to bring back abroad.

The Dutch no longer have the salted cheese to make the long trip since they now have refrigeration.

Among the things that we need to learn about cheese:

Never freeze cheese, otherwise it will collapse when taken out.

Table cheese is brought to maturity from four weeks to two years old.

Cheese comes mostly from cow's milk, followed by goat's and sheep's milk.