The port of Mahon is a natural enclave of the Mediterranean sea, perfectly protected. Since ancient Phoenician, Roman, Arab, and more recently, French and British, tried to strategically conquer the port. There is extensive documentation detailing the incessant traffic of goods and vessels in the area and they had to get their  food from the island,  being their famous cheese the standing out product.  

In the past the cheese was made of sheep, but since the English domination, during the eighteenth century, the cow milk was introduced. Since the cheese was exported from the port of Mahon, it got the name of this city of Menorca. In the early twentieth century an important melted cheese factory was created, which was the basis for the island's specialization in dairy products.

Nowadays both farmhouse and industrial production coexist, basically small factories and the large cheese cooperative COINGA.