Queso de mano is a type of soft, white cheese (queso fresco) most commonly associated with Venezuelan cuisine. It is most commonly used as a filling for arepas

Arepa

An arepa is a dish made of ground corn dough or cooked flour, popular in Colombia, Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. It is similar in shape to the Salvadoran pupusa...

 and cachapa. The taste and consistency of the cheese most closely resembles that of mozzarella

Mozzarella

Mozzarella is an Italian Traditional Speciality Guaranteed food product. The term is used for several kinds of Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting :...

.

Preparation

Queso de mano is prepared using a combination of cow's milk and ewe's milk curd. The resulting product is called cuajada

Cuajada

Cuajada is a compact, almost cheese-like product , like curd "grains" condensed tightly to make a cheese of some sort, made traditionally from ewe's milk, but industrially and more often today from cow's milk...

. Once this step is attained, the cuajada is mixed with hot water to ensure the elasticity of the cheese. The mixture is then cooled in special molds which give the resulting cheese a roughly spherical appearance.

Variants

A local version of the cheese, called queso guayanes is popular in the state of Bolivar.