How Ardrahan Cheese is Made.

Niall: Hi guys. Welcome and __ Court. We’re on the Ardrahan Farm today where we’re going to meet Mary Burns. She’s going to tell us all about the different sort of cheeses that get made here, so let’s go and see how it is done. Mary. Mary: Hello Niall. Niall: How are you? Good to see you. I believe you’re going to show us around your lovely farm today. Mary: Indeed. Yes, I would love to. Niall: Brilliant. Mary: Should we start by looking at the herd? Niall: Sounds good to me. So we’re down here with the cows and I don’t mind if you would tell us a little bit about the whole process, and this is basically where the cheese comes from at the very start. So, I suppose that them eating grass the whole time is very important for the end result of the cheese, is it? Mary: The more grass you can get into the cow, the better quality of milk you’ll have and the better quality cheese you’ll have. Niall: And all these are your own cows. They were all altered within the farm. Mary: Every cow is bred on the farm for generations. We know generation to generation, so traceability and everything is on the line. Niall: So you can follow it all the way back? Mary: All the way back. Niall: So what sort of farm—you obviously got different pedigrees. What pedigree are these ones? Mary: Well, we have a full pedigree for each we have. Obviously, there are different sires but we train and breed for protein and fat. That’s the most important thing. That’s what the milk is like, with fat and protein and more supply for the genes. Niall: You give little pet names for each of them, would you? Mary: Well, we have pet names for some of them, but there are too much as you can see. Niall: Can we go inside now and see how that whole process gets started with the cheese? Mary: Very good. Niall: So, before the milking process can begin, Dominic rounds up the herd from the field with the help of his dogs. He then leads the cows into the milking parlor where they make their way down the receiving tray waiting to be milked. Dominic then starts milking the cows, the first stage in the creation of the lovely Ardrahan Cheese. We’ll move on now to the maturing rooms to see how the cheese is developed. Mary: Now this is the maturing rooms. In this particular maturing room, you can see that the cheese is very young. It has come down from the manufacturing area last week and it has allowed to sit here on these stands. It sits and it’s turned everyday. And as it is turned, it develops its own rind, this now is Ardrahan. Each room is filled and the cheeses remain in the one room. They don’t move at all about from room to room. Niall: We moved down into another of the maturing rooms. What’s happening in here, Mary? Mary: Here, we have some mature cheese—some mature Ardrahan in this room and it’s winding its way towards its maturing time after which it would be packed and sent out. You can see the development of the age on the rind in this cheese now. Niall: And there’s definitely a nice drawing smell in here. Would that may be ready to eat? Mary: Yes, all. Indeed, you could eat. We have that inside with quite a potent flavor and quite a strong flavor. Niall: And how often would these ones begin to turn in here? Mary: They get turned once a week. Niall: Thanks very much for showing us the rind in here. They look absolutely fantastic. I think we might go and sample on one if you have a spare one. Mary: Indeed. Niall: Well Mary, that was a very interesting process that you just talked us through there which is a fantastic cheese. Now, the best bit—the most exciting bit is we’re going to taste it. When did you first start making these cheeses? When did you come up with the idea? Mary: We started back in 1983. Niall: Very good. Mary: The reason that I decided to go for this type of cheese is because I like strong cheeses. I like the flavor and the lasting flavor after, and they were not really available in those days. I thought we should try and make one. Niall: Hmmm, that is really, really good. It’s definitely got a real strong distinctive flavor, doesn’t it? Mary: It does. It has quite a reputation actually for being strong flavored, strong-odor cheese. Niall: It sits really nice in the mouth. I mean, I can see that it works perfectly with the red wine. Are there anything else that you could serve it with? Mary: Well, actually it would be awesome. As you decided with red wine, it goes down very, very well with Irish whiskey. Niall: Really? Mary: It’s been well-researched and really tried out, and it’s a very, very good cheese with whiskey. Niall: It’s very good. Just when tasting it, it’s quite strong. I think you could definitely like pan fry it maybe with breadcrumbs or deep fry it with a little relish or chutney because there is a real full-bodied strong taste there. Mary: That’s quite true. And in fact, some chefs do use it to deep fry the Ardrahan which is breadcrumb, as you say, deep fried. It’s very, very good. Niall: Very good. And that would predominantly be Irish chefs here. Mary: Yes. It would be with Irish chefs. But it is used in the UK in a lot of top restaurants as well. Niall: Yep. I like the way this—like if you look at the texture of it around the outside, it is a slightly different texture. And down in the middle, you got a nice creamy sort of… Mary: Well, but actually it’s on maturing that it gets quite soft and that texture, with the yellow soft texture as you move in, it’s younger because it takes long. It matures from the outside in. So that’s the difference that you have in the colors. Niall: And that’s fantastic. The rind that we were looking at earlier come on really nice. Wonderful cheese. Thanks very much for having us here. It’s been a pleasure. You’ve been a fantastic host and I really, really enjoyed it. Thank you. Mary: I’ve been very, very pleased of having you with me. Thank you.