By — John Yang John Yang By — Lorna Baldwin Lorna Baldwin Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/meet-the-artisanal-makers-of-the-worlds-most-expensive-cheese Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio In northern Spain, there’s a dying culinary art that produces the most expensive cheese in the world. John Yang reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. John Yang: Finally tonight, from northern Spain, the dying culinary art of making the most expensive cheese in the world. John Yang (voice-over): In this dank dark cave is some of the world's most prized cheese. It's where cheesemaker in Carni Bhatta produced the most expensive cheese ever sold at auction, more than $40,000 for a five pound wheel of Cabrales blue cheese. Encarnacion Bada, Cheesemaker (through interpreter): It's expensive. There's a lot of publicity. They see you everywhere. The truth is I've already had people who come because they saw you in Germany or I don't know where, and they come looking for cheese. John Yang (voice-over): Authentic Cabrales must sit for months in humid limestone caves, absorbing the unique microflora that gives its pungent flavor and aroma. Bada's family has been aging cheese here for decades. Her daughter in law, Eva Gutierrez, follows in her footsteps. She straps a 44 pound load of cheeses on her back and carries it up a steep winding footpath to the aging caves in the mountains of northern Spain's Asturias region. Encarnacion Bada (through interpreter): For us who grew up with it's a way of preserving a culture, a tradition that our grandparents and our parents taught us. I'm continuing with it, and I hope my son will, too. At least he'll learn it. I don't know if he'll make a living from it or not, but he'll learn it. John Yang (voice-over): Traditionally, making cheese here has been the work of women, but the future is uncertain. There are now fewer than 20 artisanal cheesemakers. Woman (through interpreter): What can you do? You think maybe the world's going to end if you don't make your cheese, but it will go on still. It's something you say to yourself, and then if I stop, there's no more. John Yang (voice-over): And that uncertain future could push prices even higher. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Oct 04, 2025 By — John Yang John Yang John Yang is the anchor of PBS News Weekend and a correspondent for the PBS News Hour. He covered the first year of the Trump administration and is currently reporting on major national issues from Washington, DC, and across the country. @johnyangtv By — Lorna Baldwin Lorna Baldwin Lorna Baldwin is an Emmy and Peabody award winning producer at the PBS NewsHour. In her two decades at the NewsHour, Baldwin has crisscrossed the US reporting on issues ranging from the water crisis in Flint, Michigan to tsunami preparedness in the Pacific Northwest to the politics of poverty on the campaign trail in North Carolina. Farther afield, Baldwin reported on the problem of sea turtle nest poaching in Costa Rica, the distinctive architecture of Rotterdam, the Netherlands and world renowned landscape artist, Piet Oudolf. @lornabaldwin