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This Irish Cheese has been made by Durrus Farmhouse Cheese since 1979. The unpasteurised cow’s milk is sourced locally and curdled with traditional animal rennet. A washed-rind cheese, it develops an orange-pink rind over a yellow paste; the small cheeses are matured for two weeks, and the large for four to five weeks. When young, the flavour is mild; as it matures, it becomes more complex with a fruity, nutty taste.

GABRIEL - Co Cork

One of a handful of Swiss-style “thermophilic” cheeses made in Ireland and Britain, this variety is made by the West Cork Natural Cheese Company, only during the summer. It uses yoghurt-like starter and milk from the Newmarket Co-operative where the cheese is made. Matured for at least a year, it develops a natural rind and a hard, dry paste with a granular texture and a slow-burning, powerful fruity flavour.

INNES BUTTON - Staffordshire

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This dainty little cheese is hand-made at the Highfields Dairy, Tamworth, using unpasteurised milk from the dairy’s own herd. The fresh milk is used for cheese-making while still warm, which is key to its characteristic delicacy of texture. At five days, the tiny bright white cheese has an elegant, smooth texture like a firm mousse, and a fresh, salty taste. It is flavoured with a rosemary topping.

ISLE OF MULL – Isle of Mull, Scotland

This hard cheese is made by Isle of Mull Cheeses at Sgriob-Ruadh Farm Dairy, Tobermory, using unpasteurised milk from the farm’s closed herd of cows, and traditional animal rennet. The curd is milled, salted, moulded, and pressed, then cloth-wrapped and matured in the cellar for six months. It has a textured brown natural rind over a yellow paste, and a powerful, complex, lingering flavour.

LANARK BLUE – Lanarkshire, Scotland

Humphrey Errington makes this cheese at Braehead of Walston using unpasteurised milk from his own ewes. Penicillium roqueforti is added to the warm milk at the start of the process. The curd is cut, drained of whey, packed into moulds, brined, salt-rubbed, and pierced to encourage the veining, then matured for six weeks. The pale ivory-coloured paste is mottled with blue-green veining and has a full, savoury flavour.

ST TOLA – Co Clare

This soft organic goat’s cheese is made by Inagh Farmhouse Cheese, Ireland, using unpasteurised milk form the farm’s own goats. As it matures, St Tola develops a distinctively whorled pale gold rind, from the Geotrichum mould, over the soft bright white paste. At its best at four weeks, the cheese has a melting texture and a sweet fullness of flavour with a faint, lingering fresh tang of goat.

Jenny Linford is the author of Great British Cheeses (DK , £12.99)

For more information and to buy the book visit the DK website

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