Queso Paria.

Paria is the emblematic cheese of Puno and the southern Peruvian Andes, made by highland dairies between roughly 3,000 and 4,500 metres, where the cold and the altitude give the milk — and the pale, faintly yellow cheese — its character. It takes its name from the old altiplano town of Paria (once Alto Peru, now in Bolivia), a reminder that this was one cultural basin long before the border.

Traditionally set from cow's milk — historically blended with sheep's — the curd is cut, stirred and washed over several days, pressed into moulds of woven straw that leave the rind its rustic wrinkle, and matured in brine for a week or two. It softens in the pan but won't fully melt, which is exactly why it belongs in pesque de quinua, chupe de quinua, and alongside papa a la huancaína, choclo and Andean bread.