- Click here to listen to the Farm Week programme on Cashel Blue.
Information
- Click here to listen to the Farm Week programme on Cashel Blue.
Information
Cashel Blue is a semi-soft blue cows’ milk cheese. It is unique, as it is Ireland’s first farmhouse blue cheese. It is all made on the dairy farm of Jane and Louis Grubb nr Cashel in Co. Tipperary Ireland. While some milk is purchased, the majority of the milk comes from the pedigree Friesian dairy herd on the farm. The cheese is made from pasteurised whole milk. It is sold in many speciality outlets in the U.K., United States and Ireland, as well as being listed by most of the British Multiples. Much of the cheese is sold young, while it is firm and crumbly, but for a fuller flavour it is best eaten at about three months of age, when it has a softer texture and more mature flavour.
Knowing your Cashel Blue
Cheese is not a simple commodity, but a goumet product which develops with age changing in form and flavour. Quality is taken seriously at every step in the production of Cashel Blue, hence it is hoped that the cheese reaches your table in a condition pleasing to your palate. If it is not practical to taste the cheese before purchasing, then the firmness of the cheese is a good indication of maturity. At about six weeks of age the cheese is firm and crumbly with a tangy flavour; from six to twelve weeks, the cheesedevelops a fuller flavour while changing to a softer creamier texture.
After this time Cashel Blue develops a very mature flavour which may be too strong for many but a delight for a few.
Cashel Blue leaves the farm wrapped in gold foil and carries a batch code number. The first two numbers of the batch code correspond to the week of the year so the age of the cheese is always known. Alternatively smaller portions carry a best before or sell by date. These dates are set as a guide for persons who require a mild flavoured cheese and can be extended for a stronger flavour. Storing the cheese in foil in a refrigerator or cool larder allows the cheese to slowly mature further until the required ripens is achieved. A full flavoured ripe cheese is soft to handle whereas a young mild cheese is firm and crumbly.
Technical Information
Quality Assurance and Food Safety
J&L Grubb Ltd strive to ensure the customer requirements are always met. This includes quality of product and quality of service. A continuous improvement culture is promoted whereby investment is a primary focus to ensure the customers needs can be met in the process of manufacture, delivery and service. J&L Grubb produce Cashel Blue according to the guidelines of a comprehensive HACCP system and are accredited the BRC accreditation standard at a Higher level.
