Irish Farmhouse Cheese
I am a big fan of cheese and when I lived in France, I was used to having a huge variety: soft, blue, strong, mild, goat milk or cow milk… You can find any type of cheese you like in any supermarket in France. I missed all that when I lived in Ireland, because unless you can afford continental cheese (which was certainly not my case since I was a student), you end up eating Cheddar cheese and… that’s it!
However, I have now realised that this is not really true… You can find lots of different cheeses in England and Ireland. You just need to know where to look for them! And once you’ve tasted true farmhouse cheese, you don’t miss French cheese anymore (it doesn’t mean that I do not eat a lot of it when I go back home).
So today I’d like to have a closer look at all those different cheeses Ireland produces. Ready?
Farmhouse cheesemaking
Traditional cheesemaking used to be an essential element of the Irish food culture but declined from the 16th through to the 19th century because of economic policies. The creation of dairy co-operatives in the early 20th century revived the activity but what they made was mainly factory-produced generic Cheddar. The true revival of traditional handcrafted cheesemaking began in the 1960s by families wishing to use the surplus milk from their animals or to make more interesting cheeses that those available.
There are now about 65 artisan cheesemakers in Ireland and all farms produce their own unique cheese. Unlike their European neighbours, there is no named regional cheese made on several farms within a given area, such as Parmesan or Camembert. Today, Irish farmhouse cheeses are exported to over 20 countries!
Most popular Irish farmhouse cheeses
- Cow’s milk cheeses
Ardrahan - Cashel Blue - Coolea - Cooleeney - Desmond - Dilliskus - Durrus - Gabriel - Gubbeen - Knockanore - Lavistown - Milleens - St Killian
- Goat’s milk cheeses
Blue Rathgore - Boilie - Corleggy - Croghan - Mine-Gabhar - Oisin - Old MacDonnells Farm - Poulcoin - St Tola
- Sheep’s milk cheeses
Abbey Blue - Cratloe Hills Mature - Crozier Blue - Knockalara
You can find them in farmers markets as well as in some supermarkets. They may be a bit more expensive than standard Cheddar, but they are much better and taste like real cheese. So why not try one or two next time you see some? I will, that’s for sure.
Source: Irish Food & Cooking by Biddy White Lennon and Georgina Campbell.
(c) photo by johnny_rino via Flickr
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