Who knew cheese could be so pricey? As reported by Guinness World Records, a prize-winning wheel of Cabrales blue cheese sold for a jaw-dropping €36,000 ($42,232; £30,843), setting a new auction record. The sale took place on 25 August 2024 in Cabrales, Asturias, Spain, courtesy of the Regulatory Council DOP Cabrales. The bidding kicked off at €3,000 and escalated through 40 offers before El Llagar de Colloto’s owner, Iván Suárez, sealed the deal with a jaw-dropping €36,000 bid.
And this isn’t their first rodeo. As we reported back in 2019, this DOP Cabrales cheese has a history of breaking records, previously selling for €20,500, and in 2018, with a €2,474.04 sale. This latest triumph marks their third time topping the charts for the world’s priciest cheese.
The “Best Cheese of the Competition”
The latest “dear dairy” came courtesy of the Ángel Díaz Herrero cheese factory, which snagged first place in the “Mejor Queso del Certamen” — or “Best Cheese of the Competition.” The award-winning cheese was then put under the hammer during the contest’s 52nd year.
Before the record-setting auction took place, a panel of esteemed judges spent the morning sampling cheeses from 15 different factories. Each competitor entered their best offerings, both as individual wheels and in batch form, aiming for the top spot. In the individual competition, Maín secured third place, with Valfríu taking second. In the batch category, Maín came third, Ángel Díaz Herrero placed second, and Valfríu clinched first place for the third year in a row.
The Art of Crafting Cabrales Cheese
Cabrales and Asturias have cherished this auction tradition for decades. The latest champion cheese weighed in at around 2.3 kg, made from cow’s milk, and aged for 10 months in the cool depths of Los Mazos cave, perched nearly 1,500 metres high.
Founded thirty years ago in Tielve, Cabrales by Ángel Díaz Herrero, the cheese factory is now operated by his wife, Encarni Bada, producing around 10,000 kilograms of Cabrales cheese annually.
