Taste of the Week
St Gall Cheese
Fermoy Natural Cheese Company is a small family farm run by Frank and Gudrun Shinnick. The farm uses raw milk from their Friesian cows to produce several varieties of cheeses, yogurt, kefir, labneh, and raw milk. Gudrun learned her cheesemaking skills in her native Germany and later in Switzerland.
St Gall, it is said, was an Irish monk who brought cheese-making skills to Appenzell in Switzerland. And this Fermoy cheese, available at On the Pig’s Back in the English Market, is based on a recipe for the Swiss cheese.
St Gall is hard and dry, with a pale golden colour and scattering of small holes. In the mouth it is smooth with a creamy sweetness, a very lovely taste with a slight herby flavour. A delightful cheese and our Taste of the Week.
I certainly enjoyed my few slices at lunchtime but the guidebooks recommend using this cooked hard cheese in fondues and sauces. You might also consider grating it in recipes which call for grated gruyere. St Gall is a good cooking cheese as it keeps its flavour well when melted.
