St Tola Goat Log
About This Cheese
The original St Tola Cheese and the most well known in our range. Noted for its smooth creamy texture, St Tola Log is the ultimate gourmet soft goat cheese. The taste is full flavoured, sweet and floral with honey undertones that develop further as the cheese matures. A natural golden rind develops with ageing and this should be eaten as part of the experience!
TypeSoft
Rennettraditional
RegionBurren, co Clare
ProducerSiobhán Ní Gháirbhith
Milkgoat, raw goat
Rindnatural
Price range: €12.00 through €48.00
Producer
Siobhan Ni Ghairbhith runs St. Tola at Inagh Goat Farm, just south of the beautiful Burren area in Co. Clare. St. Tola was originally founded by Meg and Derrick Gordon when they began making St Tola in the Burren in 1978, primarily as a means of making a living out of their 25-acre holding. All the milk used came from their own herd. Meg had picked up cheese making skills during her time in Normandy, whilst Derrick, as former tea-plantation manager, was no stranger to hard agricultural work. This formidable combination allowed the couple to make a success of their business. Some twenty years later their neighbour, Siobhan Ni Ghairbhith, interested in learning the cheesemaker’s art, began to take lessons from Meg. A year later Meg handed over the running of the business to Siobhan, who took charge of the herd and relocated production to a purpose-built cheesemaking facility on the her parent’s family farm, a short distance away. These days the St. Tola range includes crottins, logs, hard cheeses, Greek style cheese and a soft cream cheese.
Goes Well With
FAQs
Cheese should be unpacked and stored in a cool place, ideally around 5 degrees. Take out about an hour before serving, and allow to come to room temperature. Leaving cheese come up to room temperature (“to chambre”) allows it to develop a fuller, more aromatic flavour. Beware temperatures that are too warm (hot kitchen) and try and let the cheese come up to temperature in a relatively cool place like a cool pantry. Harder cheeses can need a little more time than softer ones.
Cheeses like cheddars that have more open texture pastes where the curd is not heavily compacted during the cheesemaking process can have occasional blue veining. Though this blueing is caused by unintentional rouge pencillium genus mould that has found its way into the cheese, it is often sought after for its contributing flavour.
Frequently, cheeses that start to grow mould while aging, in storage, or during transit can be salvaged and are safe to consume. In the case of blue/white mould that has begun to form, it can be scraped off with regular dinner knife or back of chef knife, and bloomy rind cheeses often begin to re-rind themselves on the cut surface which can just be cut off or eaten.
Spoiled cheese has some key indicators – if you get an ammonia/sour smell or taste then it goes in the bin.
Fresh, high moisture, young cheeses (think mozzarella/ricotta/mascarpone/cream cheese) that have mould growing should be discarded immediately.
Moulds that show up with black or reddish hue should be discarded.
Our primary aim is to provide delicious, quality, safe cheeses to our Sheridans customers however cheese is a living thing with an agenda of its own. If you believe your cheese (or other food item) has spoiled, please contact us immediate at online@sheridanscheesemongers.com for a replacement or refund.
Nutritional Information
Ingredients, Allergens In Bold: Irish raw goats milk , Organic sea salt, Cultures, Vegetarian Rennet.
Nutritional Information
Energy 1081 kj /100g
Fat 20.8g /100 g
Of which saturates 14.5g
Carbohydrate 2.8 g / 100 g
Of which sugars <0.1 g
Protein 15.5 g/ 100 g
Salt 1g/100 g
