Features
New Cheeses, Old Traditions
Ireland’s Raw Milk Cheesemakers
Ireland with its lush and green pastures has, not surprisingly, a long tradition of cheese making. Ancient texts detailing cheeses and other dairy products exist from the eighth century. The names of these cheeses are known but tantalisingly the methods of production were lost in the sometimes turbulent and often oppressive period of foreign conquest and rule.
Their names indicate the wide diversity of cheeses that were made in Ireland. Tanag and Grus were hard pressed skim milk cheeses made in moulds while Faiscre Grotha were a fresh type of pressed curd cheese. Other cheeses were made including an unpressed curd cheese (Gruth) and Tath made from sour milk curds. The diversity of cheeses can also be gauged by the different coagulants referred to in old texts. Animal rennet, both calf and lamb, was certainly used but also Irish moss (carraigin) and bog violet (mothan) are described.
In the late seventies a loose association of like minded people began to reintroduce the making of cheese on a small scale in rural Ireland. These people driven by a mixture of idealism and the simple need to make a living from their farms drew upon skills and knowledge from all over the world creating, from the same raw materials that had served the ancient cheese makers of Ireland so well, a diverse array of new and exciting cheeses. Echoing the past these cheeses were made from local, fresh raw milk.
Each cheese maker developed a cheese that reflected their own personalities, experiences and interests. Uniquely within Europe, Irish cheeses are associated not only with a place of production but also with individual cheese makers. Irish cheeses have not only a terroir but also a persona.
Irish specialist cheeses have won international acclaim but there are now only a handful of the “new traditionalists” who are still using raw milk in the production of their unique cheeses. The Presidium will celebrate the distinctive merits of these cheeses and work to protect them for future enjoyment and give confidence to other cheese makers in Ireland to make raw milk cheeses in the tradition of those distant and so nearly forgotten early Irish cheese makers.
Peter Crichton
Durrus Farmhouse Cheese
29 August 2003