A regular basket is worth 2 points in basketball BUT how much would it be a cheese basket?

On Friday 27th April, the name ‘Canastra’ relating to cheese was granted GI Protection. Certification of Geographical Indication (GI) in the form of Indication of Source (Indicação de Procedência) was granted and thus, able to be used by seven cities which produce this artisan cheese: Bambuí, Delfinópolis, Medeiros, Piumhi, São Roque de Minas, Vargem Bonita e Tapiraí.

The quality and taste of the cheese known as ‘canastra’ (the word accurately means ‘basket’) refers to the production of artisanal ‘minas’ cheese. Serra da Canastra is located in the Southwest of the state of Minas Gerais, and in September last year we also heard of another cheese from the region of Minas Gerais obtaining a GI certification - ‘Queijo Minas Artesanal do Serro’ (posted here).The climate, altitude, native pastures and waters of Canastra is said to give this cheese a unique flavor: strong, medium spicy, dense and full bodied.

The Canastra cheese (basket cheese) value:

Mr Claudio Dupim, INPI’s coordinator of Development and Registration of GI, declares that the importance of the certification being granted goes beyond the registration as such, it is an instrument of regional development. Indeed, I do believe that GI recognition given to a product goes farther that the protection of that particular product per se i.e. producers could claim a premium; protect their goods from fakes and so forth BUT the point in question is that it also gives value to the whole region.

Source INPI.