New Cream Cheese from Cashel

Cashel New

Cashel Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers, the makers of Cashel Blue, have come up with a creamy beauty. I was introduced to Cashel Cream Cheese in Carrigaline at the weekend and it could well be a long lasting affair.

It is basically a mix of the famous Blue Cheese matched by Natural Cream Cheese and then they add some more cream! It has a mild and creamy flavour and a gorgeous rich creamy texture. No stabilizers, no additives, just all natural ingredients.

So why did Cashel bring out this new product? “This is an easy to eat everyday treat, which is not as strong as Cashel Blue and therefore appeals to teenagers and people who may think blue cheese is not their thing."

So go on and give it a try. I’ve tried it in various ways: simply on crackers, also on toast and also stuffed into mushrooms and baked as a simple starter. Just take it out of the easy to use tub and try it, maybe as a dip with carrot sticks, perhaps with chicken wings or in a burger or in a hot Panini with Roast beef, chicken or roast peppers. Delicious!

For more info, including recipes, check out the Cashel Blue site here. 

And here is one that was posted on Twitter this week:

Cashel Blue Cheese ‏@CashelBlue25s

Shaved asparagus and Cashel blue salad - Recipes - Food & Drink - The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/shaved-asparagus-and-cashel-blue-salad-8558589.html … via @Independent

Note: It is suitable for vegetarians but not for pregnant women.

Euro Farmhouse Cheesemakers come to Ireland

The European Farmhouse and Artisan

 Cheesemakers Congress comes to Ireland

Pictured at the launch of Ireland’s first artisan cheese congress were Dick Willems, Coolea Cheese, Eimear O’Donnell, Bord Bia and Marion Roeleveld, Killeen Farmhouse Cheese. 

The Association of Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers (CAIS) will host the 5th European Farmhouse and Artisan Cheesemakers Congress at University College Cork on the 26th April, where industry stakeholders from Ireland and other EU member states will come together to share knowledge and initiate collaborations across the farmhouse dairy sector.

Topics such as sustainability in farmhouse dairy and environmental impact, farmhouse production best practice, and the market opportunity for farmhouse dairy will be included on the programme. The congress is part of the Network of European Cheesemakers, an exchange of practical information among cheesemakers from France, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Spain.

Over 60 artisan cheesemakers from these countries will visit Ireland during April to participate in the congress and experience Ireland’s unique and diverse dairy sector. For more information, visit www.irishcheese.ie.

Chocolate and Cheese Mix from St Tola

Spring In St Tola Air

Spring is in the air at St Tola Goats farm as they see their in-house winter experiments take exciting shape.

The County Clare farm has teamed up with Benoit Lorge, the renowned chocolate master in Kenmare, to create some truly beautiful Cheeserts ....Fresh St Tola Goats Cheese, dipped in the finest dark chocolate and beautifully finished with hazelnuts. They make an elegant and unusual finish to a romantic meal or a great talking point for an Easter Lunch.

Grainne Casey, Sales and Marketing at St Tola told me. “We are aware that the teaming of soft goats’ cheese and chocolate is a somewhat controversial mix.” She needn’t have worried.  Just tasted a sample myself and am delighted with it.

I love St Tola in any case and the outstanding feature of the cheese is its creaminess and that still stands out but now in addition you’ve got this smashing chocolate and the whole experience is one of a delicious balance between the sweetness of the chocolate and the sharpness of the cheese. Next time, especially if romance is in the air, I might get myself a wine to go with the Cheesert, thinking of something like Beaumes de Venise or a Tokaji but open to suggestions.

And speaking of romance, St Tola are going to make a plain heart shaped crottin especially for St Valentine’s Day. The Cheeserts will be launched next week at the Food Forum in Galway and will be available shortly from all good delis nationwide including Fallon and Byrne and Sheridans Cheesemongers.

Further details from Grainne at sales@st-tola.ie


See my October visit to St Tola here

St Tola Goat Cheese

St Tola Goat Cheese

Clockwise, from top right: Crottin, Hard on shelve, Hard cut, original log
filling the logs, eating up, and the Ash log.

The goats, all three hundred of them, at St Tola Cheese  near Inagh in County Clare, are looking forward to a better summer next year. “They don’t like the rain,” said our host Grainne Casey, who looks after Sales and Marketing for the organic farm.

The goats didn’t get out as often as they’d like this year but still they were well looked after. The grass was cut and brought into them. But it’s not only the animals that will be looking for a better 2013. Keeping them indoors for extended periods has added hugely to the farm’s costs, as organic feed is not easy to get and costs three times more than your normal feed.

Grainne introduced us to cheese maker Carmen Gal, who is responsible for all aspects of the production operation. Then we enjoyed a very interesting tour of the facility during our recent visit. Grainne explained how the cheeses are made. There are two major types, the regular soft cheese that most people are familiar with and also a lovely hard cheese.

St Tola, under Siobhan Ní Ghairbhith, who took over the reins in 1999, never stands still and have within the last 12 months or so introduced the distinctive St Tola Ash Log, a beautiful creamy cheese that has an ash like covering (edible charcoal).

One of the little girls!

The hard cheese is weather dependent, made only in summer with surplus milk. In a good year, St Tola make it from May to July/August but this bad summer they were curtailed to making it from June to mid July.

Then it was time to meet the animals and, first of all, Grainne introduced us to the “little girls”, most of them born in April or May of this year. Beautiful friendly creatures and so too were most of their elder relations. We didn’t get too close to the Pucks. Apparently they stink! Not too many males “survive” here but those that do have quite a choice!

St Tola started off with three different breeds originally, the idea being to get a good balance of milk, including a good proportion of the cream that helps give the cheeses it gorgeous texture. When they are not indoors, the herd has some sixty five acres to roam around.

All was quiet in the shed, which has one side partly open to the outdoors, until Petru Gal, the Farm Manager, appeared on the scene. Then the goats created quite a din, perhaps expecting an extra treat. Petru, a skilled herdsman, has been here since 2003.

A prize winning selection

The milking is quite an operation and is done twice a day. The facility is mechanised, the ladies are led in to the parlour, their movement restrained, the reward is a little treat, and the whole operation takes about ninety minutes in the morning and the same in the late afternoon. Two hundred are milking and they’ll let you know if you are late!

After the tour, we sat down with Grainne and enjoyed a cuppa and a cheese tasting. The room was a reminder of how far St Tola has come as it is decorated with many awards, from Ireland, Britain and Europe. The products are widely available and you may see the full list of stockists here.

Two happy pucks

 Also visited: Cliffs of Moher  The Burren Brewery Wild Honey Inn   Lahinch area Ballyvaughan Tea and Garden Rooms The Burren

New Cafe at Toons Bridge Dairy

New Cafe at Toons Bridge Dairy

The Real Olive Company and Toons Bridge Dairy this summer opened a little shop beside their warehouse and buffalo dairy in the old creamery,  Toons Bridge, near Macroom, West Cork.

"We sell our buffalo milk produce (mozzarella, ricotta, butter, raw milk, aged cheese, cream cheese and yoghourt) and our Mediterranean foods (olives, oils, Iberico meats etc.) We also provide an outlet for other local artisan producers (De Roiste puddings, Coolea cheese, jams etc.)."

"Attached to the old creamery there is a pretty garden, where we grow lots of the herbs and edible flowers used on the olive stalls."

 On Friday 28th Sept. We will open a cafe in the creamery garden serving simple food made from the abundant ingredients on site as well as good coffee, organic wine and sherry and scrumptious homemade desserts.

 

Using Our Own Buffalo Milk And Cream

Ricotta cake

Toons Bridge cheese board

Mozzarella salad

Ice cream

Using Real Olive Co. Stuff

Warm crispy Pane carasau with various toppings

Tapas boards

Salads

Toasted sandwiches

Please note: Both  shop and cafe will only open Fri, Sat and Sun because the stalls and vans are gone all over the country to markets, the cheese maker has finished his week and all is peaceful at the creamery.

Open Fri. Sat. Sun. 11am-6pm

Three Clare champions at Ballymaloe

Three Clare champions at Ballymaloe

Birgitta

Fit for a queen

Met three champions from Clare at Ballymaloe last evening. The first, Skillogalee founder Dave Palmer, comes for the Clare Valley in Australia, while the other two, Birgitta Curtin of the Burren Smokehouse and Siobhan Ni Ghairbhith of St Tola, come from our own County Clare, after which the Australian valley is named. It was a promising line-up and they delivered big time.

Colm McCan of Ballymaloe greeted us all with a Skillogalee Sparkling Riesling. “A very unusual wine, only four or five are made in Oz,” said Dave. “It is light, dry and refreshing and aromatic. It is a properly made sparkler, bottle fermented and aged on its lees.” Great start.

Siobhan

Hard

Ash

Dave then took to the stage at the Grain Store to introduce his two whites for the evening: the Riesling 2011 and the Gewurztraminer 2011. “These are cold climate wines. We pick pristine fruit and try to preserve it all the way through”. These were matched with the soft goats cheeses and the smoked salmon. “Matches made in heaven,” according to Dave. “I think the lemon and lime flavours in the wine is one of the reasons.”

Next on the wine list was the Rosé (a Cabernet Malbec blend) 2011, a rosé “with attitude..brings out the summer berry characters”. Delightful all the way through from its initial beautiful strawberry bouquet.

Two Gold medal winning reds followed as the high standard was maintained: The Cabernets 2007 and the Shiraz 2008. Quality control is vital in Skillogalee and you won’t find The Cabernets 2008. They didn’t make it as the fruit wasn't good enough.

The reds were matched with the St Tola Hard Cheese, just three months old. Very good now, like Gouda, but Siobhan promised it will get better as it matures (more like Parmesan in the end).

Dave

Quite often, the language of wine maker and food producer is the same. They are one and all affected by factors outside their control including the obvious one of the weather. They are one and all dependent on their terroir. Siobhan knows that if she were to transport her 200 plus goats to an inland county that the cheese flavours would be different.

“We have a peaty soil near the Atlantic. The St Tola Log cheese is quite natural, a little fruity, hints of the peat and undertones of salt. The St Tola Ash is made in the same way but in smaller log and is rolled in a food grade charcoal to produce the Ash rim. The Ash makes it stand out on the cheeseboard and keeps it fresh.”

The hard cheese is weather dependent, made only in summer with surplus milk. In a good year, St Tola make it from May to July/August but this bad summer they were curtailed to making it from June to mid July.

It soon became obvious that you really need to know what you are doing with hard cheese. “Timing is very important. If done wrongly, it can even explode!” With its beautiful taste and texture and creaminess, it proved a great match for the Cabernets.

Just like Dave and Diane Palmer, Birgitta and Peter started their Clare business about 23 years ago. Now the Burren Smokehouse is internationally recognised and its products are stocked in speciality food shops in places such as London, US and Kuwait. They too set high standards and their excellence has been regularly recognised and many awards have come their way.

They love their location but even here there are challenges, like the scarcity of wild salmon. She told us the wild salmon is a little drier and the flavour lingers a little longer. They get theirs from a fisherman on the Nore and it ends up in the most unexpected places. Like the Queen’s table, for example. Last year, during the Queen's visit, Ross Lewis choose Burren Smokehouse Wild Salmon for the state banquet. Another honour for Birgitta and company!

Birgitta is Swedish and explained that hot smoking is prevalent in her home country while cold smoking is more common in Ireland. She showed a selection at Ballymaloe, including the Donegal Silver (fresh, sweet and full of Omega3) and the slightly paler Clare Island.

Her Hot Smoked Organic Salmon “is slightly spiced, fully cooked and more meaty.” Birgitta suggested it is a good way to get young people interested in smoked fish though she suspected that “the real fish eaters might prefer cold smoked”.

The Burren Smokehouse is quite a tourist attraction. “Some 30,000 people visit us each year, 10,000 of them from France. Please call in!”

A terrific entertaining and informative evening was drawing to a close but, with Dave Palmer on hand, there was to be a sweet ending, a tasting of the famous Skillogalee Liqueur Muscat, made like a Tawny Port, the fermentation stopped at the right point (the tricky part) leaving a 25% sugar content. Great nose and great flavours, not at all cloying and with a long lingering finale.

Thanks to Dave and Dianne Palmer, to Birgitta and Siobhan and indeed to Colm and all at Ballymaloe.

Gubbeen. “A gentle and fertile corner."

At Ballymaloe, l to r: Fingal and Giana Ferguson, yours truly and Rory O'Connell 

Gubbeen. “A gentle and fertile corner.”

“We are dairy farmers and farm over 200 acres in West Cork, with Mount Gabriel behind us and the Fastnet out in front of us. We have a mixed herd...but are very proud of our Kerry cows,” said Gubbeen’s Giana Ferguson as she addressed those of us privileged to be in the attendance at the Trimbach Wine and Cheese evening in Ballymaloe last week.

It was a very special evening in the Grain Store, so much more than the sum of its advertised parts: wine from Alsace, charcuterie and cheese from Gubbeen and the blue cheeses of Cashel and Crozier. But put these special families together, the Allens, the Fergusons, the Grubbs and the Trimbachs, as Ballymaloe's Colm McCan did, and you have the perfect mix for a few magical hours.

Instructive too. For these family “businesses”, more a labour of love, have a certain honesty and simplicity, not forgetting an abundance of hard work, not just in the day to day tasks, but also in acquiring and maintaining the necessary skills, that put together enable them to reach the highest of standards. They don’t boast about it either but they are a shining example to us all.

Take the Fergusons at Gubbeen where they have been farming for many generations now. Like many farmers, they have cows, they have pigs, they have poultry and they have a kitchen garden. But here, they have been put together in a rather special way by a family who work hard, respect the land, their animals and their customers.

And just like the engaging Jean Trimbach, they too know their terroir: the acidic soil, the salty winds from the Atlantic, the early grass (thanks to the Gulfstream).

They started making cheese in the 70s and these first generation cheesemakers were taking a step into the unknown.

But there was help and support from two of Cork’s leading food families: the Allens of Ballymaloe and the Ryans (now in Isaac’s), a support warmly acknowledged by Giana: "The Ryans and the Allens stood by us and kept us going."

Gubbeen chorizo

And they have travelled a long way, without ever leaving Gubbeen, without ever getting “big”. The add-ons are organic. Their pigs have the best views of any pig farm and son Fingal has taken a keen interest here. He admitted to being “fascinated by meat curing” and is “always looking to learn more in the future” Already, he has over fifty products, most from the versatile pig.

Daughter Clovisse has also added to the productivity of the farm.  She is a bio-dynamic gardener and, with a terraced acre and four tunnels, she supplies several local chefs and is the source of fresh salads, vegetables and fruit for her customers.  Her herbs are the key flavours in Fingal's cures for his smoked meats, and in the summer - if you get down early enough - you can buy her salads at the Schull or Skibbereen Farmers’ Markets.

Parents Tom and Giana have been the pioneers, Tom as the herdsman and Giana as the cheese maker; she also keeps poultry in the yards.  Special people making special food. A regional and national treasure.

• Don’t forget to visit the Gubbeen site here.

The Grubbs: Blessed be the cheese makers.

Sarah Furno speaking in Ballymaloe

Jean Trimbach loved the cheeses

Blessed be the cheese makers
The Grubbs and Cashel Blue



About this time last year, I was buying some wines in the Rhone village of Rasteau.


The English speaking saleslady was telling me all about their Signature Vin Doux Naturel which, unusually for a dessert wine, is red. She was suggesting cheese matches and mentioned the blues of Auvergne and Bresse. But when she moved on to Stilton I just had to interrupt and tell her we had our own blues in Ireland.

When she asked for a name, I gave her Cashel Blue. And she carried on as before. “Now you take a glass of Rasteau and Cashel Blue and you have a perfect match.” Quite a saleslady but glad I spoke up when I heard Sarah Furno of Cashel Blue (and Crozier Blue also) in action at this week’s enjoyable Trimbach Wine and Cheese evening in Ballymaloe.

Sarah had quite a story to tell and told it so well. She explained that their family farm in Tipperary was struggling to make ends meet in the hard times of the early 80s. Would they go into yoghurts? Into ice-cream? But they had noticed the rise in cheese-making and after much research (including visits to Gubbeen), they decided on making a blue cheese.

There was obviously a market here as the country was importing something like 25 tonnes of Danish blue at the time yet people still “thought we were mad”. But, led by parents Jane and Louis, they kept experimenting and it took them all of four years to create Cashel, which is made from cow’s milk.

The Crozier followed about ten years later. This is made from sheep’s milk. Earlier, they had been told: “You can’t milk sheep”. Sarah: “They graze on limestone fields and produce just two litres a day...It is liquid gold, high yielding, very rich.”

If Blue cheese was something of a mystery to those in Irish agriculture in the 80s, then moulds were even more so. “Something wrong with your cheese?” The moulds are important as Sarah’s husband Sergio explained: “We use mould for flavour. We rely heavily on external mould on the rind to encourage the development of the creaminess and complex flavour from the sweet nature of the wonderful milk.”

And I must say, I just love these blues for those very reasons. And so do consumers in Australia, United Kingdom and United States and online .

It was really fascinating to hear Sarah speak and tell the story and her frequent references to the terroir, references also made by Giana Ferguson of Gubbeen. Sarah for instance mentioned the limestone fields on which the sheep graze while Giana referred to the salt spray from the Atlantic that hits their fields and the warming effects of the gulf Stream.

Sarah just touched on the recent decades. For more on the Grubb family story – it goes back as far, if not further, than that of the Trimbach’s – and indeed much more on the fantastic cheeses and how they are made, go to the Cashel Blue website here.

Just been checking and found I still have a bottle of that Rasteau, bottle number 08446 from the 2007 vintage Signature Vin Doux Natural. Next stop will be the English Market to get one of those blues from Tipperary, maybe both.

The Sentinel - Corned Beef Sandwich with Gruyere | Foodspotting

The Sentinel - Corned Beef Sandwich with Gruyere | Foodspotting

Hey Cork chefs, take a look at this. Another use for corn beef!

Beer and cheese. And the blues!

Organiser Barrie Tyner (with the large bottle) at the Beer/Cheese event at the
Midleton Farmers Market today Saturday

MIDLETON'S BEER AND CHEESE MATCH

BEER AND CHEESE MATCH
at Midleton Farmers Market

Barry Tyner has been busy organising:


"This Saturday we are having a celebration of Irish Farmhouse Cheeses and Craft Beers at the Midleton Farmers Market. That means a big tasting table set up and everyone gets to sample for free.

We are also having a Costume Competition in aid of Bernardos. All stall holders will be in costume and prizes for the best costume for the kids.

We also have Stevie G doing a Jazz set and Andrea and his band belting out Rhythm & Blues. A clown performer will be going round keeping the kids on their toes."


Should be fun. Think I'll drop down in the morning.

CHEESE AND BEER FEST EVENTS

Great to report progress in the Bord Bia led Cheese and Beer Fest events for the end of the month. Quite a few events locally as you can see from the approved list below

Click on chart to enlarge

Farmhouse Cheese and Craft Beer

Pairing Advice

Sitting

CONGRATS TO ARDSALLAGH!

Well done to all at Ardsallagh Cheese on winning gold at the Irish Cheese Awards this week. Their Ardsallagh Cranberry Roulade came tops in the New Cheese Section.Two other Cork producers also struck gold and quite a few were honoured. Well done to all. To see the full list click here

MATCHING CHEESE AND BEER! Bank Holiday challenge!

Irish Farmhouse Cheese & Craft Beer Weekend

Join the celebrations taking place 27^th – 31^st October 2011

During the October Bank Holiday Weekend, Bord Bia aims to raise awareness of the breadth of Irish farmhouse cheeses and craft beers amongst consumers by initiating the Irish Farmhouse Cheese and Craft Beer Weekend.

At present, there are approximately 50 farmhouse cheese makers in Ireland producing over 140 varieties of cheese and 17 craft brewers. Both crafts are not just about the flavour but also the people, personalities, places and stories behind them.

To celebrate this, Bord Bia is looking for producers and foodies to hold a tasting event, talk or demonstration in an effort to show that craft beer (not just wine!) is an excellent accompaniment to cheese. Events can be in cheese-houses/farms, breweries, restaurants, pubs, gastropubs, off-licences, markets and other suitable venues.

Bord Bia will provide event hosting tips, recipe ideas and PR materials in advance. For further information or to organise an event, please contact Stephanie Moe of Bord Bia by Monday, 3rd October 2011 at 01-6142254 or stephanie.moe@bordbia.ie.

WEST CORK'S CARBERY WINS UK CHEESE GOLD

Dubliner Cheese wins GOLD at the prestigious

Bath and West Cheese Show

Award-winning Dubliner Cheese - The perfect ingredient for al fresco dining this summer

Dubliner cheese and baked potato

Dubliner Cheese, the delicious range of Irish cheese made by Carbery in West Cork to a traditional recipe, has beaten off stiff competition from bigger European cheese makers in countries such as Italy, Holland, Norway and Spain to win GOLD in the specialty hard cheese class at the prestigious Bath and West Cheese Show.

Niamh Lennon, Sales and Marketing Manager for Dubliner Cheese said:  “We are delighted that Dubliner Cheese has received such a prestigious award. This award recognises our dedication to producing some of the best tasting cheese available and demonstrates once again that consumers can choose the best quality, best tasting products from Irish producers. Dubliner cheese continues to maintain the gold stamp of approval!”

This most recent win further reinforces

TIPP CHEESE & KILKENNY SYRUP

HIGHBANK ORCHARD SYRUP & COOLEENEY CHEESE

Had heard only good things about Kilkenny’s Highbank Orchards Syrup which was launched in 2010. Spotted the bottle in Iago in the English Market recently and snapped it up. The price is close to 10 euro and looks high for 200ml but the organic product has a long shelf life and is very versatile.

"Ireland's answer to maple syrup", this sweet and delicious, pouring, organic syrup, is the first of its kind. Grown and produced by Highbank Orchards in Kilkenny, Ireland. With years of research, Highbank launched the Orchard Syrup in 2010 at Savour Kilkenny.

There was a little leaflet hanging from the neck with quite a few suggestions. Drizzle it on your porridge was one. I tried that but didn't find it very successful. More joy though when I added some to cheese.

Uses suggested on the site are: Drizzle on porridge and muesli, pour on ice cream, pancakes and desserts, glaze your ham, sausages or vegetables, flavour your stews, oat cakes and breads. As a hot healthy drink or in whiskey. Drizzle on cheese (particularly blue cheese), on paté and game terrines. Delicious on bananas as well as poured on Waldorf Salads!

Tipperary’s Cooleeney was the cheese in question. Met them at their stand at the recent Cork TasteFest and, for three of those controversial Corkers, I got a small round of their Dunbarra Farmhouse Brie (this with garlic). 

Cooleeney make quite a range as you can see on their site. They often suggest a matching wine and Pinot Noir was their choice here. Just happened to have one and yes that New Zealand Marlborough Little Beauty and Cooleeney got on well together. But perhaps the best match was between the Tipp cheese and the Apple Syrup from neighbouring Kilkenny.

HOW LOCAL DO YOU GO?

TIPP DOUBLE FOR THIS CORKMAN!

Just been reading the always entertaining and

TOP IRISH CHEESES

HAPPY NEW CHEESE

So many Irish cheeses around these days, you could buy a different one for each and every day of 2011.

Started on the local track, not that I ever strayed too far off it, at our New