The Cheese Blog
Making Old School Alpine Cheese in Dingle, Ireland - with SeaweeD
Some of you probably know of my adoration for Irish cheese.
The pastured cows on small farms that supply the rich milk from which its made. Its bright herbal and floral flavors. The island's penchant for stinky washed-rinds. The unbelievably beautiful Irish countryside that supports it. And its skilled makers, who though make wheels that rival Holland's goudas and Swiss mountain wheels, make their cheese modestly, while smiling.
This post is a photo diary of the time I spent with Dingle peninsula cheesemaker Maja Binder. Born in Germany and trained in the Swiss and Italian Alps, Maja makes gorgeous Alpine-style wheels with an Irish cheese accent.
Think classic, aromatic, semi-firm wheels of the kind you'd find on Swiss farms- strong, sweet and herbal, but often with a little seaweed caught off the Dingle coast (which I was around on a warm enough day that I got to swim in!) mixed in to make some wheels like Diliskus.
Visiting Maja was amazing. She's as charismatic as they come. Energetic- she runs a cheese shop in Dingle in addition making her cheese on her own wheels, Maja is a vibrant cheesemaker who is one of the few people outside of the Alps who make their wheels with curds they gather with a cheesecloth they hold with their teeth. Really.
So she pretty much does everything.
I'm working on a writing project that will reveal more about this skilled cheesemaker later, but its a slow work in progress and I was aching to show you Maja's work in the meantime. The photos capture the story in color.
Traditional tools used to stir the curds in the vat
Me, stoked, on the Dingle coast.
Thank you Maja for letting me visit!
Coolattin: Irish Cheddar, Raw Milk, and Grazing Ladies
Despite the awe-worthy Gothic inspired architecture, amazing music and super nice people, I couldn't wait to leave Dublin for Wicklow County. Why? Cheese. We were visiting Coolattin Irish Cheddar producer Tom Burgess, someone whose cheese I hadn't yet tasted because none of the 70 wheels he made a week made it to the states, but I was aching to try.
Around the UK and Ireland, Burgess's cheddars have been making waves. In 2015 he won both Ireland's Best Cheddar and gold, silver, and bronze medals at the British Cheese Awards. Not too surprising that all the cheese was eaten up before it had a chance to hit California. Perhaps you're wondering with so little access to the cheese, how did I hear about the creamery?
Well because Mr Declan O'Brien, the man who did much of the ground work for the Cal Discoveries Irish Cuisine & Culture tour I guest-lectured on, played rugby with the cheesemaker.
And, that's how cheese writers learn about cheese, my friends!
Tom and his family invited our group to tour the dairy, then head to his gorgeous house to drink tea in the kitchen with his family. No biggie, just drinking raw milk from their herd in our tea while eating huge amounts of cheddar and snuggling with farm kittens in their house. The cheese was beautiful, and... almost as memorable, I had the opportunity to name a farm kitten (Susie)!
The story of Coolattin cheddar starts in 1987 with a fluctuating milk market.
Tom bought the farm in 1987 and like many farmers frustrated with with the EU milk market and quotas, decided to reclaim control of his herd's milk and pull it out of the system all together. Making cheese from that milk instead of selling it to processors would allow him to control where the milk was going, who was using it (him), and because cheese was a value-added product, he could set his own prices (many American dairy farmers have also made a similar move).
So Tom started experimenting with his herd's raw milk in his kitchen. Like all burgeoning cheesemakers, he had some misses, then, hits (you also wait six months or more before your creation is ready to sample), then found his groove. He took his young cheddars to farmer's markets to see if it would sell, and came back without any cheddar. A sign. Soon after, he hired English cheese consultant Christine Ashby, a Stilton and cheddar specialist who with worked at Montgomery's Cheddar, refined his wheels, then went commercial.
Tom has 3 rules he stands by for Coolattin Cheddar.
It's made from raw milk only.
He only makes Coolattin in the seven months of the year when his ladies can graze on fresh grass (tastes better, and according to Tom, "really freed up my time").
He will only milk his animals once a day to give them a little rest. Most cows are milked twice a day.
Coolattin cheddars are sweet, grassy, meaty (think rib-eye fat), and become more intense (but still sweet) with age. They're lovely.
The wheels pictured here with natural (food-safe) red coating are his original style of Coolattin. With the urging of Slow Foods, Tom started making a bandage-wrapped style, below, and a year later that cheddar won gold, silver, and bronze at the British cheese awards. Score.
Tom has plans to grow, so let's cross our fingers that Coolattin makes it here soon. Right now he has the help of cheesemaker Ritchie (who also gives historical neolithic site tours in Wicklow), and his son just might be edging his way into the make room too. If you make it over Ireland, reach out. They're a kind family, they serve you raw milk with tea, the cheese samples are amazing, and come spring and summer there might be farm kittens.
Thank you for the visit, Burgess family!
Tom demonstrating how he uses the cheese harp (knife) to cut the custard-like fresh curd. This is the first curd cut before milling.
The shovel used to push lift curds into the milling machine.
Tom took off the funnel top of the milling machine to show the mechanical magic inside. He puts the curds in, and the pegs chop them up to so they’re perfect to press into wheels.
Coolattin dairy – where The Cheese is made.
Susie, photo by Haley of Cal Discoveries UC Alumni Travel.
Irish Tour First Stop: Dublin. Cheese, Sugar & Pubs.
If you've been wondering where I've been for the past few weeks and haven't been following my Instagram feed pics of the greenest hills on earth, farm kittens, and wheels upon wheels of Irish cheese, I'm happy to share that I've been on an Irish-culinary-cheese-venture. Officially. I had the honor of guest-lecturing a UC Berkeley Alumni Cal Discoveries Culinary & Culture tour of Ireland. As the resident tour cheese expert, I got to craft a tour shaped entirely around where I wanted to visit and eat cheese. I felt immensely lucky. It was dreamy, and put us in some of the most beautiful places around the country, like West Cork and Wicklow counties to visit dairies like Coolattin Cheddar and Durrus Cheese. More posts to come about those visits. The trip started in Dublin with the group and and ended with me staying on solo to visit cheesemakers on my own, with my last day on Dingle Peninsula. More photos of that too.
If you saw someone swerving along the Wild Atlantic Way on the left hand side of the road, but driving maybe a little more on the right hand side of the road, that was me! Sorry about that right hand turn.
This is my photo tour of some of my favorite stops in Dublin, where it all begin.
Obviously, travel starts out best with cheese. So I reached out to my friends at SheridansCheese and asked for a group Irish cheese introduction tasting. It was wonderful. With shops like The Pig's Back, Mannings Emporium and The Little Cheese Shop of Dingle, Ireland has no shortage of wonderful cheese shops, and Sheridans is the best in both Dublin and Galway. Highlights of the tasting were Milleens, Cahsel and Crozier Blue (often available in the states), Durrus, and a raw milk robiola style cheese whose name I forgot because I selfishly blanked out because it wasn't available in the states. John, below, was our cheese man. He moved form France around ten years ago and has been with Sheridan's since.
If you're on your own in Dublin, I'd recommend looking into Fab Food Trails. Dublin is navigable enough, but it's a city with delicious things tucked in hidden paths and corners. This tiny walking tour company worked with us to curate a custom tour around the city.
One of our stops was The Pepper Pot, housed in a shopping arcade. Reasons why we loved it are below.
Then we headed to the Temple Bar District.
A great straight-up seafood spot was Klaw. Crab-shack dining style, raw oysters, housemade gravlax, east coast lobster rolls, and Picpoul wine from the southwest of France to wash it all down. Delicious. I hear their happy hour is a rager.
Then there was The Swan Lynch pub. In case you're wondering, yes, Guinness is their best-selling beer. In 1916 a group of Irish Republications published the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, and Ireland was commemorating the document that lead to the country's final independence in 1922 when we were there 100 years ago. Dublin was a center of action. Below, Swan Lynch's owner Danny points to bulletholes in the wall of a neighboring building where the IRA used to gather. In general, Swan Lynch has been an epicenter of Dublin life for years. Danny's father, an amateur rugby player who traveled the world playing, also brought in sports fans to the bar. And in true Irish fashion, the bar sill has hidden spots where men could stash their alcohol when women entered the bar because it wasn't considered polite to swig in their presence.
We all, however, sipped 12 year whiskey with Danny.
We also ate sweets besides the scones pictured at Pepper Pot. If you need a chocolate fix in Dublin, head to Cocoa Atelier. They do earl grey truffles like no one's business.
More Ireland to come.
The "It's Not You, It's Brie" British-Irish Invasion
As I type this, I'm flying over the Nevada desert towards Heathrow, London. Starting today, all newsletter updates and blog posts for the next two months are going to be sent from the British and Emerald Isles! If you're asking yourself, is this months-long British and Irish exploration cheese-based, your answer is yes. I'm going to eat more Cheddar, Wensleydale, and thistle-rennet goat cheeses than I've ever eaten in my life. And you can bet your bottom pounds and euros I will tell share the dairy glory.
I'm more than a little excited. First a month in England, off-and-on, then some time in Ireland. I'm also a little nervous. I'm hoping that at some point during my trip I master using phone country codes and that the British and Irish friends I'm visiting honor the beauty that coffee brings to a morning while I'm crashing on their couches (they already have). But more than anything, I'm excited. And hoping that the whole driving-on-the-left-side-of-the-road thing isn't as difficult as Irish car hire insurance policies suggest.
The purpose of my trip is, you guessed it, cheese inspired and general tourism! I'm visiting producers who I've been enamored with from afar for years and just hanging out in general. Just a few cheese folks I'll be visiting: Hafod, Quickes, Hawe's Wenslydale, Gubbeen. Seeing the rolling hills of Somerset, and being stopped in the middle of the road by sheep when I'm late to catch a train or do something important pretty much seems like the best thing ever right now.
I'll keep you all posted with blog updates (as jaunting across the pond and a little behind on blog updates, you may see a rendition of this newsletter here, but remember, you read it first!) and then, later after I return to the U.S., there will much more writing. And there will be articles and classes.
Keep posted on my whereabouts via my blog, and feel free to drop me a line in the comments section, or at kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie. I've love to hear your local recs while I'm exploring the culture, history, and deliciousness of the cheese from these two beautiful countries. I'm honored to have this chance to roam and can't wait to share my adventures with you!
Winter Cheese & Wine, Tuesday, Nov 25th, Cheese School of San Francisco
What begins as fresh milk in the spring, results in a well-aged cheese to keep us nourished and satiated through the winter. These cheeses are meaty and rich and make the perfect foil for wine both red and white. Wine maven Kirstin Jackson will introduce you to eight beautiful examples of the fruits of spring and some wines that are also worth the wait.
Winter Sparklers: Wednesday, Dec 10th, Cheese School of San Francisco
Prosecco, cava, California sparkling wine, champagne. If you ask us, everything tastes better with bubbles. But some cheeses really do sing to the tune of fruity, floral effervescence. Join author and wine and cheese pairing savant Kirstin Jackson for a festive evening exploring the best cheeses to pair with sparkling wine. After this class you can consider yourself holiday-party ready.