CHEESE IN PROFILE with

Coolea

What’s the story?

When Dutch couple

Helene and Dick Willems relocated to rural Ireland in the 1970s for a slower pace of life, they couldn’t find an thing li e their native Gouda, so they set about ma ing their own sing mil from their own cows, their

Davies, who founded Ty Caws in 2020 a er working as a cheese buyer for Harvey & Brockless, will continue production at the Food Centre and hopes to one day supply other retailers with the cheeses.

The sheep’s milk comes from a small farm in Pembrokeshire called Ewenique Dairy, run by Bryn Perry, who makes also blue cheese and a whey vodka.

“Wales is a land of sheep, but hobby became a business, and Coolea is now eaten all over the world. Their son Dicky started wor ing for the family business in 1991 and is now in charge of cheesema ing, using mil from two local herds of Holstein Friesian cows.

How is it made?

Coolea is made every da using asteurised milk from the previous evening s mil ing and animal rennet for coagulation he curd is cut and then scalded in hot water to reduce the acidit , before being hand-ladled into moulds and pressed for around hours into g wheels fter brining in salt water for three days, the cheeses we don’t actually produce a lot of sheep’s milk cheeses,” said Davies. “A lot of my customers really like the avour and people who have an intolerance to cows’ milk cheese o en nd sheep’s milk easier to eat.”

He added that the cheesemaking operation could be part of a bricks-and-mortar shop in the future, if the new products were successful. tycaws.com

Behind The Counter Tips Of The Trade

Jonathan Cook,

owner, The Cheese Shop of Tunbridge

Wells

The Cheese Shop of unbridge ells only opened in 2020 but has quickly built up a head of steam by collaborating with other local businesses

Owner Jonathan Cook works with the ent ine chool and runs tastings at the local pub, but more unusually also works with Spa Valley Railway, which runs steam trains along a line between unbridge ells est and ridge

The company put on a special Kent heese rain earlier this ear with tasting bo es for assengers, su lied b the sho It was such a success that three more are scheduled, roviding welcome sales and mar eting for the sho

“We supply branded boxes with four different cheeses, crackers and chutney,” says oo t s a lot of wor , cutting and wra ing small wedges, but it s a great wa to get our name out there to locals and tourists.”

He added: “It’s important to reach out beyond the four walls of the cheese shop and collaborate. Word of mouth is so vital and the more revenue streams the better.” thecheeseshoptw.co.uk

Coolea with Herbs & Garlic are coated in yellow wax and matured for between 2 and 24 months.

Cheesemonger tip: great cheeseboard alternative to the usual hard favourites, serve it with fresh and dried fruit. If you have an older variety, try with a square of dark chocolate or brownie.

Appearance & texture:

A classic Gouda-style cheese, it is characterised by its yellow wax rind and golden amber aste oung oolea is butter , mild and pliable, while older cheeses have a harder paste and a fuller, more robust flavour that continues to develop for two years. over two years. t this stage of maturity, the cheese has a slight cr stalline consistency and takes on hints of caramel, butterscotch and honey.

Variations: Coolea Matured, Coolea with Cumin Seeds and

Chef’s recommendation: great melter, oolea works well in most dishes and particularly over pasta or potatoes. With all variations, you will not go wrong serving with a glass of full-bodied Chardonnay, or even a whiskey.

There are a number of ways you can study Academy of Cheese courses: online as selfstudy eLearning, interactive virtual classes or traditional classes at a venue. Visit academyofcheese.org for more information.

Heart and soles

Businesses o en follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, but a cheesemaker in Sweden has taken this to an entirely di erent level

By Michael Lane

YOU MAY WELL recognise Tegel, made by Almnäs Bruk in Sweden. It won a Super Gold, and picked up the inaugural Ann-Marie Dyas trophy for Best Artisan Cheese at the 2018 World Cheese Awards. Not only did its Alpinestyle avour pro le wow the judges but its distinctive rind, featuring a child-like footprint, caught the eye too.

Far from being a gimmick, this signature is actually a nod to the history of its producer’s home – a 3,600ha country estate on the western shore of Lake Vättern with a rather grand house for a centrepiece. When this building was being built back in the late 1700s, a brick factory was set up on the estate and hundreds of bricks were le outdoors to dry.

“In those days, they would put them out in the yard, where children played – and stepped in the wet clay,” Almnäs Bruk’s CEO Thomas Berglund. “In the attic here there’s a oor where you can see the footprints of little children.”

But as much as Tegel – Swedish for ‘brick’ – is a quirky homage to the estate’s past, it is also the latest chapter in Almnäs Bruk’s history, which dates back as far as 1227.

The Berglund family has owned Almnäs since 1915 and Thomas returned from Switzerland in 1987 to take the reins. Having worked in banking, he was quick to spot a trend of diminishing returns on the farm.

Not wanting to be the “administrator of decay”, he ushered in a new approach, converting to organic in 1999 and then reviving cheesemaking. A er all, this was a tradition that could be traced back as far as 1651. The last dairy had only closed in 1961. Plus the farm was already home to a semi-hard cheese trademarked in 1892, called Wrångebäck.

When Berglund was setting up in the early 2000s, he was fortunate enough to locate both the last cheesemaker (82-year-old Hans Stiller) to pass on his knowledge, and the original maturing boards, with critical ora intact.

By 2008, a new dairy was operational, Wrångebäck was back in production and the rst batches of Tegel were being made – as it seemed prudent to Berglund to have two lines.

“A erwards, I learned the reason the Swiss make only one cheese in their village dairies – because it’s so damned di cult,” he says, adding that it took the best part of a decade to get Tegel to a level they were happy with.

In that time, a new parlour has been built to get the most out the farm’s 180-strong milking herd and a further two products [see box] have been added to the repertoire. The operation now produces 60,000kg of cheese annually.

Berglund insists that the key ingredient to this success is “good people”, referring to cheesemakers Kerstin Johansson (pictured) and Stina Johansson, who continue to tweak and perfect the cheeses. And on the maturing and sales side there is Tommy Larsson and Krists Poots, who will soon be getting a larger redeveloped storage space to work in – along with a cheese-turning robot to assist them.

Currently, 70% of the dairy’s output stays in Sweden, with a strict “no supermarkets” policy. Almnäs’s biggest export market is the US and Canada, with the majority of that being Wrångebäck. The UK only accounts for 1,000kg – mainly of Tegel – which goes to a handful of customers, including La Fromagerie, Bayley & Sage, and The Fine Cheese Co.

While he has designs on growing markets closer to home, potential British customers should rest assured that Berglund is happy to put down those distinctive footprints in as many places as possible. almnas.com

The Almnäs Bruk range

Accounting for 65% of Almnäs’s output is the semi-hard r ngeb c he flagshi cheese, which has been trademarked since 1889 and now has PDO status, is produced in 8kg wheels and aged for 10-15 months, resulting in a slightl tart, com le umami flavour

Made in smaller volumes, Almnäs has two other cheeses. Anno1225 (top) is a Tomme-style cheese moulded in woven baskets, while 1 Liter is a classic Swedish granular, small-holed cheese, named after a dairy token once used by farm employees.

Almnäs Tegel (“brick) is made using the scalded curd method, reminiscent of Alpine cheeses. It has a sweet, fruity aroma and on the palate it is fruity with a slightly granular mouthfeel. A regular winner at recent World Cheese Awards, it is matured for 16-22 months.