Irish You Were Here – Sampling Galway’s Finest Cheese

It’s time to get back to basics and what this blog is about – cheese. In this case – Irish cheese.

I’ve been to Ireland once when I was in my 20s. I remember landing off the ferry from the UK and the guy at the ferry terminal said: “My goodness, what an accent you have young lady”.

Accent indeed. My father’s side of the family can be traced back to Ireland, my great great great etc grandmother in fact. Unfortunately, like many, she left Ireland under duress, having been fingered for pickpocketing. She landed in Australia as a convict, Parramatta in fact, and the rest they say is history.

My friend and colleague Alastair, being an Irishman himself, had been promising to bring me some cheese from his native Galway. He made good on his promise with a lovely piece of Killeen Farmhouse Goat Cheese

It is a pressed, washed curd cheese. Killeen Cheese is made by hand, using traditional animal rennet – the taste is clean but sharp like you would expect.

Galway is in the west of Ireland where everywhere seems to have long and complicated names. It is also apparently the home of many great cheeses. And if you think it couldn’t get any more Irish, the goats who produce the milk for this cheese are fed on clover. Yes. clover.