My name is Vicky and I am a cheeseaholic. I think now is as good a time as ever to tell you. Cheese consumes my life and I consume vast amounts of cheese. And I am not talking delicate thin slivers of cheese; I prefer to eat cheese in big glorious hunks. I’m not one to shy away from cheese rinds or cheeses so stinky they make your eyes water. I relish all cheeses the stinkier the better. A trip to the cheese shop can take quite some time and many of our holidays have been dominated by mammoth cheese buying missions. On a recent trip to the French Alpes, I purchased a large amount of alpine cheese and my heart nearly stopped when customs halted me for a random inspection. Thankfully something else caught their attention, so my lovely cheeses and I returned safely home. I acknowledge I have a problem with this cheese addiction of mine; regardless, I strive to feed it on a daily basis.
Thanks to a chat with some other lovely Irish food bloggers I discovered the existence of the fantastic Irish farmhouse cheese book from Bord Bia. I am now on a mission to try out every single cheese in the book (all 53 pages of it … that might take some time!) It’s great to see all these Irish farmhouse cheeses in one place though. You can also download a copy of this wonderful booklet for yourself.
A trip to Sheridans cheesemongers is always a special occasion for me. I am constantly on the hunt for new cheeses, so there will a lot more cheese updates to come. My first new find this week is a delicious goat cheese called Killeen. Killeen Goat is a Gouda style cheese made by a Dutch born lady living in County Galway. It’s a really buttery goat cheese with a lovely salty sweetness and great creamy aftertaste.
My second cheese this week is Glebe Brethan which was a revelation to me when I first discovered it. Swiss Gruyere is one of my all time favourite cheese so I was so happy to discover this Irish gruyere style cheese. According to their website this cheese is made in 45-kilo wheels, which are matured on spruce timbers for 6-18 months. It is carefully hand-turned and salted to form a natural rind, which enhances its unique flavour. For me all this effort and time is evident in this beautiful nutty mature cheese. There is a nice, almost grassy flavour to this cheese which I am totally addicted to.
Another good addition to any cheeseboard is the delicious Coolea matured. This cheese is made from full cream cow’s milk in Co. Cork and is based on a very old Dutch Gouda recipe. This cheese is fantastically moreish and has won many international cheese awards.
I also picked up some Lavistown which is an old favourite of mine. I bought a young Lavistown which has a buttermilky flavour and a smooth waxy texture. With age Lavistown becomes more creamy and crumbly. Lavistown is produced in Stoneyford, County Kilkenny from the same makers of the wonderful Knockdrinna cheese.
No cheeseboard is complete without a blue. I must admit I have a love hate relationship with blue cheese. I love blue cheese in small doses and like it best when cooked with food or as a dressing. However there is one blue cheese that I always come back to; Bellingham Blue. This blue is produced by Peter and Anita Thomas in Castlebellingham in County Louth. This blue is creamy, buttery and sweet and has none of the harshness you sometimes find in blues. In fact I would go as far as to say that this is a milder blue cheese for beginners. It’s made with raw cow’s milk and is wonderfully robust in flavour.
Sheridans Cheesemongers will host their second Irish food festival this Sunday, 29 May, at their headquarters in Co. Meath with lots of Irish cheese producers in attendance.
