Farm to flavour

On the picturesque grounds owned by Glenstal Abbey in Murroe, County Limerick, lies farmer Andrew’s land, which he has on long-term lease from the abbey. His grandfather had also worked the same land several decades prior, so, for Andrew, returning to this area with his family was akin to returning to his roots. His herd of around 400 Friesian-Jersey cows graze in a nearby field even as a fine rain baptises all who are outdoors that afternoon in July. Soon they’ll make the two kilometre walk back to the milking parlour where his daughters will collect the second milk of the day, the first round having been collected before 7am.

This scene is like many across Ireland’s Golden Vale, a region of emerald green pastures that has been historically linked to dairy farming in counties Cork, Tipperary and Limerick. The latter is where Richard Walsh set up Glenstal Foods in 1995. Rather than buy a large industrial estate or office block in a town or city, he decided to establish a base on the edge of the Golden Vale to bridge the gap between the business and its suppliers, in this case the dairy farmers who form the backbone of Ireland’s ever-expanding dairy industry.

“It’s very hard to build trust with the farmers if we’re not in the vicinity. This gave us a sense of permanence and conveyed to farmers such as Andrew that, look we’re here to stay and you can trust us with your product,” explains Richard. Andrew is one of thousands of dedicated farmers in Ireland that supply milk from grass-fed cows to dairy cooperatives that produce high-quality cheese and butter.

Since that time Glenstal Foods has built a team, which Richard states are his biggest assets, including Pat Fenton, a cheese grader with over 50 years of experience, whom Richard approached on the brink of his retirement from a major Irish dairy cooperative to “save knowledge which would otherwise have been lost” and asked him to teach the next generation of graders, which “has been pivotal” in upping the company’s standards.

Cheese is produced for only six to eight months of the year in Ireland from late spring (March and early April), building to a “veritable tsunami of milk” in the summer months and tapering off by September. During this period cows spend most of their time in fields, freely grazing on rich, nutritious grasses, which results in milk high in protein, fat and calcium. This summer milk is what goes into making Spinneysfood Cheddar Cheese ranging from mild to extra mature, as well as vintage Cheddar available at Spinneys deli.

Much like wine, cheese is a living organism, which continues to age and mature even after it reaches the consumer. “The cheese that we offer Spinneys is produced after the cows have been out 24/7. And then depending on the customer, in this case Spinneys, we have defined recipes for mild, to mature and extra mature Cheddar, with each recipe containing specific starter cultures that help the cheese reach that profile in as little as three months for a mild variety to 12-18 months, sometimes 24 months for stronger flavoured Cheddars,” explains Gareth Coleman, commercial director at Glenstal Foods. Glenstal’s Cheddar ages at 7oC, and “they’re left at that temperature as long as they age properly” adds Tom O Connell, a cheese grader at the company’s cheese facility. In case the aging process speeds up, the temperature is reduced to 2oC to slow it down.

This whole process involves continuous grading, which is where Pat Fenton’s decades-long experience comes into play. It’s ironic that he doesn’t like to eat cheese, a trait that Richard and Gareth agree helps him be more objective when it comes to the actual grading. There’s no scientific parameter in place for this skill, rather it all comes down to what the customer wants and Pat on his part tests for moisture levels, protein, fat and salt content along with aroma, flavour and body. Our Spinneys customer base, for example, likes their extra mature Cheddar to be crumbly, which differs from other retailers’ requirements in the UAE, so cheese graders account for these variables.

Glenstal Foods prides itself on consistently producing premium-quality cheese, so the next time you sit down to enjoy a piece or slice of our Cheddar, know that its journey began in Ireland’s luscious fields, then passed through the hands of passionate cheesemakers and faced the final litmus test in the form of Pat Fenton, before it was given the go-ahead to be good enough for your table.