Brought to you by Dubliner Cheese
Is Cheese the most versatile food on the planet?
In a recent study, 45% of Irish people said that can’t live without cheese. No wonder we’re always in good form!
Nutritionally, cheese is a great source of protein and calcium. Muscles need protein, especially after exercise, so cheese is a great after sports snack providing 6.4 g per portion. Packed with vitamins and minerals that contribute to the maintenance of many processes in our bodies, it also provides calcium and phosphorus for bones; zinc and iodine for cognitive function; and vitamins A, B2, and B 12 for immune function.
Cheese is great for you and, as the most adaptable food on the planet (we challenge you to name an ingredient more flexible), it’s great for cooking with too!
Are you in the mood for Brie for breakfast? Of course, you are. How do you fancy aged cheddar in the afternoon? Couldn’t turn it down, you say? Some Dubliner Cheese with your dinner? Match made in heaven!
No matter if you’re popping cheese into your pasta, signing off a sandwich with a slice, shredding it over your salad or biting it by the block, there is a cheese for everyone.
There’s a cheese out there for you but do you know where that cheese comes from? Are you aware of how it’s made? Do you know if it’s healthy, high quality and comes from the happiest cows? These were the burning questions keeping Ireland rugby star Donncha O’Callaghan awake at night.
Donncha recently spent some time with his friends at Dubliner Cheese, trying to find answers to these dairy-dilemmas for the good of the Irish public! Luckily for us, he brought along a camera crew to document the whole thing. Dubliner Cheese didn’t want to make it too easy for Donncha and challenged him to three tasks along the way.
Donncha’s first challenge was to spend a day on one of Dubliner’s West Cork farms. Happy cows make the best milk and, naturally, the best milk produces the best cheese! With their cows spending 300 days of the year out in that lovely southern air, chewing on that delicious West Cork grass, it’s no wonder Dubliner Cheese has that distinctive flavour and smooth, creamy texture!
Following on from his frolic through the fields, Donncha’s cheese grading skills were put to the test. When it comes to cheese, quality is key and expert cheese grader (not grater) Michael Cahill had some tips to share. Michael tastes the cheese regularly, ensuring it is maturing to the highest of standards.
For Dubliner Vintage, this maturing process can take up to three years! One tip Michael didn’t share with Donncha is the secret to Dubliner’s taste. It’s a closely guarded secret that even Donncha couldn’t scare out of them!
Finally, Donncha headed for a cook-off with in-house Chef Breffney. Learning all about the sheer adaptability of cheese, Breffney also shared with Donncha the fact that it’s also a great source of protein and calcium!
“Sometimes there is so much negativity associated with consuming cheese in our diets,” said Donncha. “I was absolutely astonished to learn about the nutritional value of Dubliner Cheese!”
Dubliner Cheese was founded in 1995 and prides itself on being a multi-award-winning cheese, owing to lifetimes of heritage cheese-making. www.dublinercheese.com Follow them on Facebook @DublinerCheese and on Instagram @dublinercheese
Brought to you by Dubliner Cheese
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
