The Wexford Cheeses

Perhaps the best known is the St.Killian cheese made by Paddy Berridge, sold virtually everywhere in Ireland and very distinguishable on account of its hexagonal box. Let it get a bit mature – ie buy it from a good cheesemonger – and the cheese has a fulsome complexity that belies the fact that the milk is pasteurised.

(Adamstown, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, Tel: (054) 40560)

There is also a larger-size cheese, St Brendan Brie, with a lighter taste, which is also widely available.

(Adamstown, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, Tel: (054) 40560)

One of the cult Irish farmhouse cheeses is Luc and Anne van Kampen’s Mine Gabhar. A raw goat’s milk cheese, they have recently begun to produce it in a log-shape, as well as the traditional round. It is a sensational blast of flavour, beautifully balanced, zinging with herby, sweet flavours. Open your best bottle of claret when Mine Gabhar is on the table.

(Ballynadrishogue, Blackwater, Co Wexford, Tel: (053) 27331)