Carpool in the Country: West Cork Co-Op Extra Mature Drinagh Cheddar

The first time we visited the O’Driscoll family farm in Leap in west Cork, Neven Maguire was with us. And the spread of food that welcomed us really was fit for an award-winning chef. From piping hot homemade soup and sandwiches to warm our bones to freshly made cream cakes, the table was set to impress.

Second time around, Neven wasn’t in tow. Expectations were a little lower but that needn’t have been the case. The spread was just as impressive, the thought, preparation and work clearly evident.

This hard-working ethic spreads far beyond the kitchen table to the lush fields that make up Brendan O’Driscoll’s family farm in west Cork. In fact, this sense of hard work leaves the farm with each milk truck that travels to Drinagh Co-op just a few miles away.

And we as consumers get to taste that work every day through Simply Better’s West Cork Co-Op Extra Mature Drinagh Cheddar.

The journey ahead

Although this fine cheese has been on the fridge shelves since last November, it is still in its infancy when you consider the long and tasteful journey it is sure to embark on. To tell us more about it we met cheese master himself Kevin Sheridan from Sheridans Cheesemongers, who has been involved in the project since its inception.

“When it comes to cheddar cheese in Ireland, you’ve got two sides of the coin,” explains Kevin. “On one hand, you have farmhouse cheese, often produced in small quantities using milk from the farm or the immediate region.

“There is an authenticity to it, an appreciation of the art and these are the Irish cheeses that we celebrate on our Christmas cheese board, that we pair with a glass of wine. We savour the sense of place and people that are behind such a powerful flavour.

“On the other side of the coin, we have good-quality Irish creamery cheese, the cheese we enjoy more as an everyday food, that we grate on baked potatoes or slice for our sandwiches. The milk can come from a variety of regions and is usually combined together to give a consistent taste.”

Sitting between these two ends of the spectrum is a massive gap in the market where the idea for this Extra Mature Drinagh Cheddar was born, a fusion of the best of both worlds. Kevin explains: “The milk for this cheese is only sourced from a select number of dairy farmers from the Drinagh area of west Cork, from Castletownbere over to the Beara peninsula, a unique piece of land with a stunning coastline where the grass is influenced by the salty sea blowing in over the cliffs. These farmers have been producing excellent milk for generations, creating a taste that is a real translation of the land.

“By ‘limiting the milk pool’, so to speak, it allows for a unique taste that reflects the season, the people and the place from which it originates. You’re also adding the expert craftmanship of cheese master Seamus Corkery in Carbery’s Ballineen facility.

“However, because it’s a cheese that is widely available through Simply Better in Dunnes Stores, it’s at a price point that makes it an everyday cheese, perfect for bubbling under the grill to produce a memorably salty and savoury Irish toastie. It’s been such an exciting project to be part of,” says Kevin.

Ageing to perfection

Every part of the process has been considered. “The culture used in any cheese plays an important role in how the taste is developed. For this cheese, we choose a culture that is very traditional, that has a full savoury flavour that works exceptionally well with the milk of this area.

“When it comes to the milk, we only use milk when the cows are on grass but the time of year can play a huge role in that – the weather, how the grass grew at the time – all this impacts the taste. So we have a variety that uses only spring milk and another using autumn milk, and the difference is quite noticeable but these inconsistencies is what makes this Extra Mature Drinagh Cheddar really interesting.”

Then it is aged to perfection, and this isn’t a set timeline. This extra mature aging process is done by taste, overseen by cheese experts such as Kevin and Seamus. They know when its reached peak taste, like a fine bottle of wine reaches its optimum vintage. “When you know, you know,” laughs Kevin.

The result is a cheese that is more savoury than sweet and it’s got a sharpness that gives it a real depth with a slight crunch, delivered by crystals developed during the long maturation. Powerful with a creamy mouthfeel, it has excellent body and a richness that you don’t get from most cheddars that sit on the shelf.

Farming pride

Testament to the taste is Brendan O’Driscoll’s four children Amy, Niall, Sam and Ian who all happily take a sample when it’s spread out on the table.

“Oh we’re big fans of it in this house as you can see,” says Brendan.

Brendan took over the farm in 1999, from his uncle Con who also lives on the land. Back then, Con was growing mostly vegetables and there were just 14 cows on the land. Now Brendan milks 98 cows. He developed the herd gradually over the years, making improvements to the land and building a herringbone parlour.

Talking about the cheese, he says: “For me as a farmer, it gives me a real sense of satisfaction, to be part of the journey. From working on the land to provide the best grass to our cows, being up early on cold mornings to milk them, seeing the milk truck leave our farm on the way to Drinagh and then for us to pick up the package which proudly displays the map of our homeland in the supermarket fridges.

“It really completes the farm-to-fork journey and it’s a great lesson for the kids to see, that this is really where their food comes from. It puts all the hard work into perspective.”

And with that, thick slices of brown bread smothered in Irish butter and topped with Extra Mature Drinagh Cheddar arrive in front of us, a real taste of the land.

What is Carpool in the Country?

Our Carpool in the Country series brings the pages of Irish Country Living alive. We teamed up with producers of Dunnes Stores Simply Better and Land Rover. In this, our final carpool in the series, we travelled to West Cork with Kevin Sheridan of Sheridan Cheesemongers to meet Brendan O’Driscoll, one of the farmers producing milk for the Drinagh Extra Mature Cheddar.