Gran Chaco (Santa Cruz / Tarija / Chuquisaca) · Bolivia
Queso Chaqueño.
Bolivia's Chaco on the plate: firm, forthright, deeply salted, often kissed with woodsmoke — the everyday cheese that browns and melts into half the eastern kitchen. Salt-forward and savoury, with a browned-butter richness and, in many wheels, a soft smokiness; a firm, sliceable body that softens and browns beautifully under heat.
Origin
20.4°S · 63.5°W
The story
How it's made.
Why it tastes that way.
Chaqueño belongs to the Bolivian Gran Chaco — the dry-forest country of southern Santa Cruz and Tarija, where herds of hardy criollo cattle browse the native monte and give a milk that carries the place. It is a farmhouse cheese, made by hand with methods passed down through generations: fresh cow's milk set with rennet, the curd pressed and salted generously, and — in much of the Chaco — finished over a fire of local woods for its characteristic smoky aroma.
Where fresh Queso Criollo is soft and milk-sweet, Chaqueño is its firmer, saltier, keeping cousin: built to travel, to grate, and to cook. It anchors arroz con queso, fills empanadas chaqueñas, and turns up sliced in sandwiches across the region, which celebrates it each year at Cuevo's Festival de la Leche y el Queso Chaqueño.
Production · spec
- Milk
- Cow · pasteurised
- Family
- Semi-hard
- Rind
- natural
- Age
- 1–3 mo
In the pan
What it does
when the pan gets hot.
Queso Chaqueñois a cooking cheese — made for heat, not the board. Here's how it behaves when it hits the pan.
Nutrition · per 100 g serving
What's in a wedge.
A 100 g serving — about a finger-thick wedge. Daily values use the FDA 2020 reference of 2,000 kcal. Expect ±5% variation between wheels.
From the Kitchen · Caseo team
What to cook with Queso Chaqueño.
1 recipe from our editorial team — each links into the Kitchen, scaled to your table.
Where to find it
Cheese counters.
Counter listings for Queso Chaqueño are being verified. Check back soon.
Verified counter listings coming soon. Our team updates listings monthly.
Substitutes
No Queso Chaqueño at the counter?.
These will play a similar role on the board and in the pan.
Take it with you
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