About Us
Cheese as a link between different cultures
Located on the line that separates the Iberian Peninsula, more specifically in Malhada Sorda, parish of Almeida municipality, Guarda district, Queijaria Quinta da Lapa offers high quality cheeses that show the best of Portugal, not forgetting however the proximity to the country neighbor, Spain.
1820
It all started in 1820, with the acquisition of some land in this area, by the Lourenço family, where he came to build a small agricultural collection and where he dedicated himself to working the land, and to cattle grazing, giving it the name of Quinta of Lapa. Over the course of four generations, the Lourenço family remained in the location, acquiring more and more land, and increasing their livestock, and as a consequence, also increasing the facilities. In 2004, the first dairy sheep were acquired, for the production and commercialization of milk.
Evolution
Later, and due to the price policy of dairy companies that did not favor the family, they decided to build a cheese factory that has been active in the market for several years. Benefiting from its location, Quinta da Lapa is located in Malhada Sorda, a parish with essentially agricultural characteristics. Its toponymy follows this direction, since Malhada has its name linked to the pastoral activity and is the indicated place for cattle raising. In this segment, the cheese factory starts the activity, with the raw material, from its 350 sheep and is dedicated to the production of cheese derived from its cattle. Within the production of cheese, the dairy produces sheep cheese, buttery cheese, cow cheese, goat cheese and curd cheese. Focused more on cheese production than on animal production, the cheese that this farm produces offers those who taste it a very peculiar flavor.
Expansion
In this chapter the company makes the difference through its personal stamp, making cheese with pasteurized milk. The advantage of this method is that it covers a broader market, since there were many people who did not consume sheep's cheese due to its very intense flavor and its strong and aggressive smell. With the pasteurized milk cheese that the cheesemaker uses the opposite happens, the smell is no longer as strong and the flavor is not so intense as all these steps provided a softer cheese, with a more diluted flavor, not having that impact strong fruit of other treatments, other cures, and that lead to it being characterized as a different cheese. With the passage of time, and with the good acceptance of its products, Quinta da Lapa increases its herd, to a herd of 1000 sheep and with this triples its production capacity, these changes being sufficient for a short period of time , as the market was expanding more and more. As such, the alternative was to find a credible supplier who would guarantee the quality of the milk and the firm Lactilapa Lda. At the moment Lactilapa is equipped with the latest technology and has a qualified workforce, which guarantees our products the quality and flavor that our customers have accustomed to. With all these changes, we currently have a production capacity of between 25 and 30 tons per month.