Cashel Blue is Ireland’s first and finest blue cheese, having been produced on the Grubb family’s dairy farm at Beechmount, Fethard, Co. Tipperary since the early 1980s. Cashel Blue is a multi-awarding brand which is stocked by all the major retailers and cheese shops.
Husband-and-wife Louis and Jane Grubb began making their now famous Irish farmhouse cow’s milk blue cheese in 1982 before founding J&L Grubb Ltd two years later. Jane’s unique recipe was created at a time when softer blue cheeses were a rarity in the English-speaking world, so Cashel Blue truly set the trend as an alternative to the traditional and stronger Blue Stilton. It does not aim to be like any other blue cheese, instead representing a style of blue cheese reflective of the people and place from which it hails.
While the company, which trades as Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers, remains in the ownership of Louis and Jane together with their only child Sarah and son-in-law Sergio Furno, it is now run by Sarah, Sergio and her cousin, Louis Clifton Brown. Sarah met her Italian husband Sergio while they were both studying in Wales. They then lived in London before coming back to join the company in 2011.
“The origins of the business can be traced back to the late 1970s when my father got into dairying,” Sarah explains.
“That meant the raw material was there to make our own cheese. We are currently milking 139 pedigree Holstein Friesian cows all-year round on our 200-acre farm. The cheese is produced on-site and we have grown to employ 26 staff, between full-time and part-time, all from the local area. Our head cheesemaker is Guert van den Dikkenberg, who has worked with us for over 20 years, and is responsible for creating our Crozier Blue brand.”
Named after the nearby ‘Rock of Cashel’, Cashel Blue is pleasant, firm and creamy edged with an established blue character which is offset by a mouth-watering tanginess. By three months of maturation, it will have broken down to a richer, fuller and rounder yet not strong flavour.
With time, Cashel Blue becomes creamier and more balanced in flavour as the saltiness, blueness and gentle milky elements integrate together. From three months, a gentle touch of spice may become apparent. Cashel Blue can age up to six months, becoming increasingly unctuous in texture with age. Beyond this point, it loses its way and enters the sphere of hot strong blues, an area the producers are not comfortable in.
Cashel Blue has a white appearance or paste as it’s technically called when young, turning increasingly towards a buttery yellow as it matures. Throughout this paste, there is a blueing often referred to as having marble-like pattern. The rind, which with time can develop a film of surface mould, is untreated and is therefore edible. It is intrinsic to the cheese and contributes to the breaking down of the paste, adding further flavour and complexity.
Crozier Blue, Cashel Blue Cream Cheese and Cashel Blue Organic are the other brands produced on Beechmount Farm. Made from sheep’s milk produced on Ballinamona Farm in Cashel, Crozier Blue has a rich, full and well-rounded flavour. It is gently salty with a distinctly rich creamy texture offset by a touch of spice.
It is much slower to mature than Cashel Blue and becomes ready for the market at a minimum of 12 weeks (compared to six weeks for Cashel Blue) and can be matured for up to 11 months. Stronger than Cashel Blue, a particular characteristic of Crozier Blue is its pleasing creaminess. This can be traced directly to the limestone-rich pastures which the ewes graze, and which in turn contributes to a lush full and sweet milk.
Created in 2013, Cashel Blue Cream Cheese is Cashel Blue, cream cheese, fresh cream and water combined in a smooth spread. The flavour is mild and creamy with a gentle blue character and a rich smooth texture. It offers chefs and home cooks a ready-to-use ingredient for stuffing and spreading, with no waste from rinds, and an easy-to-reseal format reducing food waste.
Cashel Blue Organic is the result of a relationship between The Little Milk Company (a group of Irish organic dairy farmers who came together in 2012) and Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers. It is made to the original Cashel Blue recipe and the organic milk comes from a single herd of cows based 15km from the Grubb family’s cheese house.
Approximately 60 per cent of the company’s products are exported. The typical age of Cashel Blue on mainland Europe, North America and Australia is between 14 and 22 weeks. It is sold exclusively in the North America as ‘Kerrygold Cashel Blue’.
As well as producing their own brands, Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers produces the Lidl Deluxe Mature Tipperary Cheese/Cashel Blue brand which was Highly Recommended at the 2015 Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards. The awards were open to all food and drink retailers, producers and manufacturers across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and set out to recognise excellence in food and drink product development from a wide variety of companies across Ireland.
Also last year, Crozier Blue became the first Irish Super Gold recipient at the Mondial du Fromage at Tours in France as well as winning a Super Gold at The Guild of Fine Food’s World Cheese Awards in the UK. The company has scooped numerous other prestigious accolades at the Great Taste Awards, National Irish Food Awards, Irish Cheese Awards and the Nantwich International Cheese Awards to name but a few.
Recently, Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers launched a new online farm shop, with delivery throughout the island of Ireland. A new dairy was constructed on the farm in 2011 and last year saw the installation of 180 solar panels on the roof of the cheese house as part of a sustainability project.
Sarah and Sergio have three children, Luca, Anna and Leila, who, it is hoped, will uphold the family tradition of cheese-making for many years to come!
Cashel Farmhouse
Cheesemakers (J&L Grubb Ltd)
Beechmount Farm,
Fethard,
Co. Tipperary.
Telephone: +353 (0)52 6131151
Web: www.cashelblue.com
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 2, February 2016
