Among the main characteristics of these cheeses highlights the fact that their production is completely handmade, following a tradition of more than four centuries. They are produced in the humid midlands of the municipalities of Santa María de Guía, Gáldar and Moya with raw milk from Canarian sheep; although you can also find mixtures made with cow's and even goat's milk from local breeds.

Its main value resides in being the only cheese in the Canary Islands that uses a vegetable coagulant to coagulate milk: the thistle flower in its species cynara cardunculus. This peculiar production, together with the extraordinary quality of the milk from the area, rich in aromatic grasses, has endowed these cheeses with highly differentiated characteristics, which has earned them the Protected Designation of Origin in 2007.

Guía Cheese and Flor de Guía Cheese weigh between 2 and 5 kilos, and are cylindrical in shape with rounded edges. With a waxy appearance and a colour ranging from ivory white to straw yellow, this shade darkens in cured cheeses. Its lateral edges are smooth and on the flat faces it shows the impression of a flower-shaped drawing.

Its paste is soft, almost melting, and its aromas change with maturation, initially having notes of dried fruit with bitter touches, to gradually give way to pronounced and even somewhat spicy aromas. To enjoy all the aroma and flavour that identifies these cheeses, it is recommended that a period of at least fifteen days elapses from the time they are made.