Coolfin cheese FOOD AWARD BY CAROLINE HENNESSY
her, cheese was a natural add on to what her family was already doing. “Farmers know how to produce good milk but then it goes off to the creamery. The cheese is key to bringing the story together. Coolfin is a premium product made on site with our own milk.” Making a hard mountain cheese made sense because of where the farm is located - like Swiss cheesemakers, her milk comes from high quality grass in a mountainous area with pristine waterways. Teresa wanted to make something unique that represented her home: Coolfin is the result of that ambition. By working with cheesemaker Reto Güntensxperger who developed the Appenzellerstyle Schnebelhorn in the Swiss Alps, Teresa learned how to make cheese. She brought that
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eresa Roche is an outlier. Producing an Alpine-style cheese named Coolfin at the foothills of the Slieve Aughty mountains in East Galway wasn’t initially on the cards for this former nurse but she’s taken on the challenge with gusto. Growing up on a busy family farm, there were always people coming through the door: her father Bertie - a winner of the Young Farmer of the Year in 1988 - facilitated a constant stream of farm tours to his pedigree Holstein British Friesian herd, while Julia, her mother, looked after younger visitors, with school and scout groups visiting to learn where milk came from. When Teresa returned home after travelling and living overseas, she had some new ideas to add to the mix. For
WHEN COVID HIT, DESTROYING TERESA’S REGULAR ROUTE TO MARKET, SHE OPENED A SHOP ON THE FARM SELLING HER CHEESE ALONGSIDE A CAREFULLY CHOSEN SELECTION OF LOCAL PRODUCTS.
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