Mahón is the Spanish name for the capital of the island of Minorca (Spanish: Menorca). The local Catalan name is Mao, which is therefore the official name. Mao became capital of Minorca in 1721, under British rule, replacing Ciutadella. Mao is in the east of the island, Ciutadella in the west. It has one of the world's best natural harbours.

As Mahón it is known for its cheese, a rich-tasting medium-hard variety, light yellow in colour with a hard orange crust. It is made in a bag, so a whole cheese has got a rounded cushion shape. I find it slowly melts in the mouth to give a very full, almost "fizzy" taste (a silly word to use with cheese but I can't think of another way of describing it). It's one of the most popular cheeses in Spain, after Manchego.

The website below describes it as nutty, and somewhat like Gouda, but I don't think either of these is very convincing. It's a lot more buttery than Gouda, not at all the same kind of mouth-feel. Other sites call it fruity, and I can't agree with that either. A nice smooth rich strongly-flavoured paste.

http://www.tienda.com/food/pop/cs16.htm

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.