Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheese has won several awards including medals at the 2000, 2001 and 2003-2006 British Cheese Awards, the top prize for lowfat cheese in the 2003 British Cheese Awards, and a silver medal at the Irish IFEX awards.
Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheese is a natural cheese, handmade in the traditional manner by Ann and Pat O'Farrell on their dairy farm near the historic town of Carrigaline, in the Southwest of Ireland.
The Cheese
The O'Farrells make three cheeses: an all-natural semi-soft cheese, one flavoured with garlic and select herbs, and a new maple-smoked cheese. These cheeses are handmade with milk from Freisian cows, grazed on rich limestone soil, and pasteurised on site. No artificial rBGH, preservatives or additives are used, and the cheese is made with vegetarian rennet, making it suitable for strict vegetarians.
The cheese is a semi-soft, with a delicate flavor, becoming piquant with age. For full flavour, it is best eaten at 12 weeks or older. Carrigaline may be enjoyed in sandwiches or a cheese board and is excellent for cooking. It is best served at room temperature. It may be paired with many wines, of which Ann & Pat recommend muscadet or after-dinner port.
All three cheeses are are available in 200g and 400g waxed 'rounds', a larger 1.8 kg round, vacuum-packed slices, or to customer specifications. Carrigaline Cheese is certified to BRC global standards.
Awards
Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheese has won several awards including medals at the 2000, 2001 and 2003-2006 British Cheese Awards, the top prize for lowfat cheese in the 2003 British Cheese Awards, and a silver medal at the Irish IFEX awards.
Reviews
Waitrose.com, the website of the British fine food chain
“A semi-soft award-winning Irish cheese (it was a bronze medal winner at the British Cheese Awards in 2001) made by Pat O'Farrell in Carrigaline, County Cork from pasteurised Friesian milk. It is coated in a pale yellow wax jacket and has a full flavour with a rich buttery finish. Carrigaline has a sponge-like texture due to lots of little air holes within the cheese. It is suitable for vegetarians. Carrigaline is particularly good for melting serve it on toast or sprinkle over omelettes or baked potatoes or serve as part of a cheese selection with soda bread and fruit. It is also ideal for serving with after dinner port. If serving on a cheeseboard, remove the cheese from the fridge an hour before serving, to allow it to come to room temperature and to develop its full texture and flavour.”
The Observer (UK)
Carrigaline, [by contrast,] a semi-hard, waxed cheese made in South Cork, took off immediately in Ireland when Pat and Ann O'Farrell started making it in 1987. The fact that it's waxed means it's not a cheese snob's cheese. 'You look at it and you think, well it looks OK,' says Graham Cassie; 'but for a mild to medium cheese it has great depth of flavour.'
Pat O'Farrell thinks the depth of taste is due to where they are: 'Milk off limestone land has a special flavour of its own.' Carrigaline is a cheese that anyone can eat - children, people who don't like cheese that much - creamy, with a grassy back taste.
Recipes
See our recipies page for some of our favourite recipies and those of others.
About Carrigaline
The town of Carrigaline is just outside Cork city, in the south of Ireland. The name Carrigaline is dervied from the Gaelic words 'Carrig Uí Leighin', meaning 'Rock of the Lynes'. The Lynes were an old Irish family who built a stone castle on a domineering hilltop of limestone rock in 1170 AD. The castle underwent turbulent years as Norman invaders, under the command of Mile de Cogan, took control and the castle thereafter became known as De Cogan Castle. Nowadays, goings on are more sedate as Ann and Pat develop there farmhouse cheese literally under the shadow of the now crumbling castle. Their farm has been in the family for generations, and their address in Carrigaline is, appropriately enough, simply known as 'The Rock'.
Distribution
Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheeses are available in all major supermarkets throughout Ireland. In Britain, the cheese is carried by Sainsbury's, and Rowcliffe & Son and speciality stores. In Europe and America, the cheese is carried by a variety of speciality stores. CFC is distributed by Sommerdale Foods and Bridgehead Food Partners in the UK, Juniper Fine Foods in Scotland, and Columbus Trading, Epicure
Foods, Crystal Food Imports, Coombe Castle International and the Irish Dairy Board in the US. Please contact us if you would like to be informed of new distribution in your area. In the US, a special green-waxed Carrigaline cheese is sometimes available from the online store iGourmet or from FoodIreland.Com.
Contact
We're very happy to hear your comments, suggestions or queries, on this website, or on our cheese. See our contact page for address, phone, fax and email contacts.
Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheese is a member of Fuchsia brands, promoting fine food
from West Cork, and of Cáis, the Irish Farmhouse Cheese makers association