Cabrales refers to a strong, semi-hard goat or cows' milk cheese. Varieties include blue veined and a style wrapped in leaves for extra flavor.
It is a full-fat, mature, blue cheese; cylindrical with flat faces; smooth, compact, white paste with blue-green areas and veins; piquant flavour; weight 2-5 kg.
The production and processing area covers eighteen villages in the municipality of Cabrales and three in Peflamellera Alta, in Asturias province. The milk is a blend of cow's, ewe's and goat's milk; coagulation with lactic acid at temperatures varying between 22 and 35C; dry-salting; ripening for at least sixty days.
It is categorized as blue cheese and one of Spain's PDO and IGP cheeses.