◆ In House

Nubes de La Mancha

Freeze-Dried Manchego DOP

€17.50

Semi-cured Manchego DOP, freeze-dried into crystalline tiles that concentrate its lanolin and hazelnut character into something sharper than the wedge ever was.

Origin La Mancha, España

Producer Zales & Rego

Volume 75 g

Appearance

Pale yellow-ivory brittle tiles or shards; airy, irregular

Aroma

Hyper-concentrated ewe-milk, lanolin, hazelnut, fresh hay

Taste · Primary

Concentrated Manchego ewe-milk umami

Taste · Secondary

Hay, hazelnut, fresh butter, mineral, lactic-tang

Texture

Light, crystalline, melts on tongue, leaves a buttery sheep-milk coating

Finish

Long, lanolin-warmth, sustained umami

FROM OUR TABLEContradicciónesTomato & Piparra Jam

Artisan semicurado Manchego, raw Manchega ewe milk, organic D.O., is blended with milk and freeze-dried into airy crystalline ivory tiles. The egg lysozyme used in DOP Manchego carries through to the freeze-dried form.

Manchego differs from Parmigiano in fat composition: sheep milk carries far more butterfat than cow's milk, and a higher proportion of medium-chain fatty acids, caproic, caprylic, capric, which carry the lanolin and characteristic ovine notes. When freeze-dried, those acids and their ester volatiles concentrate; the lanolin signature of well-aged Manchego is amplified rather than masked.

The Producer

Zales & Rego - Alcorcón, Madrid

The line starts in a botica in Mondoñedo, Galicia, where remedies, conserves and spices once shared the same shelf. Alonzo Rego carried the trade to Cádiz in 1776, then across the Atlantic to Veracruz in 1795. In 1888, Don Ismael Rego y Salcedo gave the house its formal name. Seven generations later, Zales & Rego returns to the old world, composing and selecting from a workshop in Alcorcón, Madrid: compose, select, preserve the excellent.

Founded 1888

Generations Seven, documented in archive

Workshop Alcorcón, Madrid

Philosophy Compose. Select. Preserve the Excellent.

The Process

Manchego, concentrated rather than aged further.

Artisan semi-cured Manchego DOP blends with milk before freeze-drying, the vacuum sublimation removing water without heat so the cheese's medium-chain fatty acids concentrate rather than dissipate. What comes out amplifies the lanolin signature of well-aged Manchego into something closer to honeyed hazelnut, a texture that shatters and melts rather than slices.

Cheese Semi-cured Manchego DOP

Milk Raw Manchega ewe milk

Method Freeze-dried, vacuum sublimation

Register Lanolin, honeyed hazelnut

“We didn't age it further. We just took the water out and let the lanolin speak.”

Zales & Rego · La Mancha, España