Wicklow Ban 150g
About This Cheese
Mild, double cream cheese with a bloomy rind, fresh aroma, and rich buttery flavour. A cheese everyone enjoys and a great example of Irish farmhouse cheesemaking.
TypeSoft
Rennetvegetarian
RegionIreland
Producerjohn and bernie hempenstall
Milkcow
Rindmould rind
€5.00
Story
Wicklow Bán, is a double cream cheese with a fat content 65-70%, meaning additional cream is added to the milk thus ensuring a fuller flavour and sumptuous texture. Like all of the Wicklow Farmhouse cheeses, Wicklow Ban is made from milk the Hempenstall’s Friesian herd. John and Bernie are cautious to avoid over-salting this cheese, which may explain how they have achieved creaminess without the overly buttery notes often associated with other double and triple cream cheeses. It’s pillowy rind is a brilliant white and its paste a soft creamy shade, thus aptly named Wicklow Ban meaning ‘white’ as Gaeilge.
Producer
Wicklow Farmhouse Cheese is a small dairy run by the Hempenstall family in southeast Co. Wicklow. The Hempenstalls have 150 cows and have been milking cows for over 50 years on their family farm. In 2005 John Hempenstall began making cheese with milk from their Friesian cow herd to supplement the farms income and soon constructed a purpose built dairy on the farm. Since then, Wicklow Farmhouse Cheese has gone on to produce a range of cheeses loved by many.
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
