Taste of the Week. Choice of three

Taste of the Week. 

Choice of three.

Choose one, or all three!

I've been enjoying some superb Irish-made cheese in recent weeks. It is tough to pick one as Taste of the Week so I'll highlight all

Christmas Rocks at Rock Farm Slane

Christmas Rocks at Rock Farm Slane

Carina Conyngham of Rock Farm

 

The Christmas farmers markets at Rock Farm Slane are a convenient one-stop-shop for your Christmas dinner essentials this year. Organic turkey, ham and roasts, organic vegetables (including the crucial brussel sprouts) and lots of delicious festive fare from the Slane Food Circle all under one roof. Bring the family along and make a day of it on Wednesday 21^st, Thursday 22^nd or Friday 23^rd December from 11am to 4pm.

 

What could be more festive than Rock Farm Christmas Market in the old Hay Barn, twinkling with lights and bedecked with Christmas trees. Every enticing stall is dressed up for Christmas, featuring special hampers and Christmas gift packs making browsing for last minute presents a pleasure. We’ll have artisan food, arts and crafts stalls competing for your attention with an abundance of yuletide gift ideas and treats. These include Slane Food Circle members Rock Farm Slane, The Cider Mill, Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese and Newgrange Gold Rapeseed Oil.

 

Take time out and treat yourself to coffee or lunch with some homemade festive favourites. Time out just for you in our spacious seating area while yuletide music plays in the background. There’s even a nice loop walk through the farm around the glamping area, where children can burn off some energy and work up an appetite

 

Rock Farm Christmas products include organic turkey and ham, pork, beef and the popular Organic Christmas Breakfast Pack, perfect for Christmas morning. The turkeys are Hockenhull bronze turkeys, slower growing than standard white turkeys and carefully chosen for their flavour and taste. Like all the stock on Rock Farm, they are raised organically. Turkeys must be pre ordered.

 

Add a little treat like a wheel of Boyne Valley Blue or a selection of Mark Jenkinson’s delicious ciders to enjoy over the festive period. You won’t be caught out this year when unexpected guests arrive. Rock Farm vouchers are a great gift option, either for Christmas products or a general voucher which can be redeemed against anything from glamping to farm tours.

 

All Rock Farm and Slane Food Circle Christmas products are available to order by email (shop@rockfarmslane.ie) for collection during Christmas week (21^st-23^rd December) from the Christmas Markets. Christmas orders can also be collected by arrangement from Dublin collection points.

Choose Rock Farm this Christmas and taste the difference.

press release

 

Taste of the Week. Boyne Valley Bán.

Taste of the Week. 

Boyne Valley Bán (Tomme Style) Cheese

These little holes are also seen in the French Tomme

Tomme? You may well ask. Tomme is an old French name for cheese and you'll find lots of it in Eastern France in hilly and mountainy areas. It has a mild creamy flavour that is pleasant and lasts in the mouth. 

When we, and the kids, used to visit France on holidays, Tomme (usually de Savoie) was always on the shopping list. We liked it and importantly so too did the kids. The Lost Valley Dairy and Creamery near Inchigheela make a semi hard cheese in a Tomme style and it is excellent. Theirs and all the French ones that we ate are made from cow milk.

When I spotted this Boyne Valley Tomme on sale in On The Pig's Back in the English Market, I had no hesitation in buying a wedge. Then when we unwrapped it at home, we realised that it was a paler colour than the French and soon found the reason: it is produced from goats milk. 

Boyne Valley are well known for their goats cheese, including their Blue. Five years ago, they developed this white goats cheese similar in style to the French Tomme cheese. There are very few cheesemakers producing goats tomme cheese on a commercial scale in Ireland and this Bán proved a perfect fit for the market.

We could taste why. It may not have the depth of colour and may lack some of the nuttiness of the Savoie cheese of the French or Macroom versions, but is has the smooth supple texture and enough of its own very pleasant flavour indeed to make it immediately wake up those taste buds, enough to make it our Taste of the Week.

Michael and Jenny Finegan run the 400-goat enterprise together. "We believe the lush grasses of the Boyne Valley produce a unique taste in our ‘Boyne Valley’ goats cheese. The lack of Irish produced Blue Goats Cheese lead to the creation of Boyne Valley Blue and soon after our award winning Bán was also produced here on the farm."

They didn't have to wait for my endorsement. In 2018 Boyne Valley Bán won gold and ‘Best Irish Cheese’ in the British Cheese Awards, received 3 stars and was nominated for a ‘Golden Fork’ award in the Great Taste Awards,  In a relatively short space of time Boyne Valley Bán has grown and has now outstripped Boyne Valley Blue in sales.