The sheep of the Serra da Estrela breed, the main dairy sheep breed in Portugal, produces milk of exceptional quality from which the wisdom of the mountain people created a cheese with more than 1300 years of history and today has Protected Designation of Origin. The current reduced number of sheep is a consequence of the abandonment of the profession due to lack of support, sector inertia, and undervaluation of the productive potential of this sheep breed.

In 2015, with the creation of the Casa Portuguesa do Pastel de Bacalhau, we began incorporating Serra da Estrela PDO Cheese into our codfish cakes, now using two-thirds of the entire production. The scale of the project allowed us to establish a partnership with Estrelacoop, the cooperative that brings together all 26 certified cheesemakers, ensuring fair remuneration throughout the entire value chain, from cheesemakers to shepherds. This initiative positioned the price of a liter of Serra da Estrela sheep’s milk as the most expensive in the world, finally reflecting its extraordinary quality.

In 2021, we reinforced our commitment to the Serra da Estrela shepherds by taking on the annual purchase of all the wool produced in the designated region. A resource that was once sold at symbolic prices, below shearing costs, is now purchased at 900% above that value, turning it into a real source of income. With this wool, we launched a story woven in time: the art of Arraiolos rugs, crafted exclusively with Serra da Estrela sheep’s wool.

In 2025, on Rua das Flores in Porto, this project took shape as a space that tells the story of the mountains and the hands that care for them. On the ground floor, the Codfish Cake with Serra da Estrela PDO Cheese is enjoyed with Port wine, in a setting adorned with thousands of wool pompoms. The path leads to the upper floor, where 12 embroiderers work live, creating Arraiolos rugs — traditional Portuguese embroidered carpets — using wool from Serra da Estrela sheep. Visitors are invited to sit alongside them and witness this ancestral craft up close. This space is a living manifesto: it gives a face to shepherds, a voice to embroiderers, dignity to crafts, and a future to traditions that have shaped the identity of Portugal for centuries.