Niall: Hi guys and welcome to Sunny Kanturk in County Cork, Ireland. 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 cheeses that get made her. So let’s go and see how it’s done.
So we’re just going to show how they prep the cheese here that Mary Burns is going to show us exactly how that does along with hauling. If you want to go ahead there.
Mary: Certainly. At this point in the making of the cheese, the stock has been added. Now the stock is a natural culture which sets the cheese making off to a good start, and subsequently, the rennet is added. We use our vegetarian rennet. The rennet is a setting agent. It’s the best way to explain it, which means that as you can see, the cheese is quite set at this point of the day. And when the cheese sets, as you can see from cherry gold Duhallow now, it’s all one solid mass. So Pauline is actually doing a cutting now.
Niall: During this process, Pauline cuts the cheese twice and let it rest after each cutting. Once the whey have been drained, the curds are put into the molds and pressed.
Mary: Now, this is what is called duhallow room and the cheeses that you would see here, there are lots of cheeses are all called Duhallow Cheeses. Now, they are brought in here and they’re allowed to rest. For the first week, they are turned everyday. There is a natural development overtime on the cheeses, and you can see that the cherry gold duhallow is a very orange rind. When we bring the cheese in, we fill the room. Once we have one room full, the doors will close and there are no additional cheeses put in after that, so we are really aware of each batch that’s in here.
Niall: Well, Mary has brought us into the farmhouse here where it’s absolutely gorgeous. I must compliment you on your heist to start up with. You’re going to tell us a little bit more about the duhallow and the taste of it. And we saw the process earlier on, and take us right back to the start and where this cheese came about and how you developed it.
Mary: Well, we developed cherry gold duhallow because I knew that there was a lot of people out there who would like a mild cheese and who would still like a rather distinctive farmhouse cheese. So with that in mind, I sought the help of a French expert on cheese making. And together, we worked on getting a cheese that would be truly consistent and I think we have a pretty good cheese now in County Cork Duhallow. If you look at the texture of it as we cut it along here, it’s quite buttery to look at. The good old Irish County Cork butter similar with the County Cork cheese in the duhallow. Its texture is soft, it’s semi-soft but it’s got a very nice mild texture that dissolves very well in your mouth.
Niall: And you can see that it’s the same texture and color the whole way through. So that’s how this is from when you’re turning it and…
Mary: Absolutely. The color goes right. It’s its natural color, but it develops that texture and it develops that color purely from the point of view of the way it’s made and the maturing of the cheese after the maturity rolls.
Niall: And it’s got like—even though, it sort of just melts in your mouth really like creamy texture.
Mary: There is a very, very nice after flavor.
Niall: It does. Like you said, I think you could drop it into like a nice béchamel sauce and it would just really full body.
Mary: Now, you’d be the expert. I just deduce the cheeses. It’s good to talk to somebody who’s an expert in cooking with them.
Niall: What’s funny is I spend quite a lot of time in America and cooking for people over there. And like you say, the kids are mad about toasted sandwiches, and that is exactly the right sort of texture and flavor that they would absolutely adore, I think.
Mary: The lovely thing about the County Cork Duhallow is that it does bubble up. If you put it on toast, it bubbles up on the grate and it’s truly delicious with a little bit of perhaps even curries or a little bit of sauce over it. It’s a good meal.
Niall: So basically, three and a half years altogether has been taken to get it good and you’re happy with it now?
Mary: Yes. I’m delighted with it. I’m delighted with the feedback literally that we’re getting from the people.
Niall: We have seen the whole process here. A, It’s incredibly hygienic, very clean, really efficient and B, the three and a half years haven’t gone to waste because it’s absolutely delicious I must say. Really, really nice cheese.
Mary: Thank you ever so much.
Niall: No problem.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services