Afuega'l pitu means in Bable (the language of Asturias) “choking cake”, due to its soft texture that sticks to the palate, like a polvorón (traditional Spanish Christmas sweet). The name also symbolizes the Spanish custom of ‘drowning the rooster’, referring to cheesemakers feeding a piece of the freshly made cheese to a rooster. An ancient cheese that was homemade through spontaneous coagulation of the curd after waiting a half-day to a day. At the end of the 19th century, the red variant began to be produced, adding varying amounts ofspicy red paprika to the curd. Two of its variants were awarded DOP in 2004: atroncau (trunk-shaped) or trapu (round, molded with rag), you can find both in white and red/paprika variants.