Clonmore Cheese
Tom and Lena Biggane started making cheese on their farm outside Newtownshandrum, near Charleville, Co Cork in 2001. As a goat’s milk producer, Tom was also interested in cheese and decided to enrol in various cheese-making courses in University College Cork, experimenting with different styles of cheese. Stephen Bender, a dutch neighbour, was getting out of cheesemaking at this time and passed on a couple of gouda-style recipes from which Tom developed Clonmore.
The cheese is a small Gouda-style cheese with a beige waxed exterior and a bone-white paste, intermittently freckled with small holes. Clonmore is instantly recognized by sporadically freckled paste, milky flavour and a mild tang that gives way to a rounded, goaty finish. It has a distinctive, smooth flavour. It is a wonderful hard goat's cheese with a waxed rind made with pasteurised goat’s milk (also available with raw goat’s milk) in 2kg rounds.
Milk type: Goat
Style: Hard cheese
Flavour: Mild and sweet when young, with notes of fudge, white chocolate and hazelnut, stronger flavoured with age
Paste: Semi-firm to firm texture depending on age
Rind: Beige plasticoat rind
Age: Aged 3 months minimum, best around 6-8 months
Format: 2kg wheels
Rennet: Vegetarian
Pairings: Unoaked chardonnay
Season available: Available all year
Made with raw milk: Yes
Milk type: Cow
Style: Hard cheese
Flavour: Mild and buttery, with pleasant milky flavour. Delicately flavoured with a hint of herbs
Paste: Semi-firm with relatively high moisture content
Rind: Black plasticoat rind
Age: 3 months
Format: 2kg wheels
Rennet: Vegetarian
Pairings: Unoaked Chardonnay
Season available: Available all year
Made with raw milk: Yes
