Killeen Goat
About This Cheese
Killeen goat’s is a gouda cheese. The natural orange-beige rind is covered in a thin layer of breathable plastic, whilst the paste is brilliant white. At three months the flavour is fresh, clean and milky, with a very slight lactic note in the finish. The cheese develops more fruitiness as it ages up to five months, and then gradually turns nutty.
TypeFirm
Rennettraditional
RegionIreland
ProducerMarion Roeleveld
Milkgoat
Rindnatural
Price range: €8.80 through €26.40
Story
Killeen goat’s is a gouda cheese, in the classic Dutch style. The natural orange-beige rind is covered in a thin layer of breathable plastic, whilst the paste is brilliant white. At three months the flavour is fresh, clean and milky, with a very slight lactic note in the finish. The cheese develops more fruitiness as it ages up to five months, and then gradually turns nutty. This is a very well made goat’s cheese, where the high quality of the milk used produces a cheese which is discernible better than the vast majority of Dutch-made goat’s goudas.
Producer
Dutch-born Marion Roeleveld has been making Killeen’s goat’s cheese at the Killeen Millhouse outside Portumna since 2005. Before coming to Ireland Marion trained in cheesemaking in her native Netherlands. In-depth formal training of this sort is rare amongst Irish farmhouse cheesemakers and Marion’s technical expertise enabled her to develop cheeses for a number of different producers.
Marion makes a number of different goudas under the Killeen label. In addition to the plain Killeen Goat and Killeen Cow Marion makes a number of flavoured cow’s cheese. Killeen Goat’s is made using milk of her own herd, whilst she buys in cow’s milk from a local farmer. When she started out Marion sold the majority of her goat’s milk and made only a small amount of cheese from the remainder. Increasing demand for her superb Killeen Goat’s eventually led her to stop selling liquid milk and use all it all in cheese production. Sheridan’s in Galway started selling Killeen Goat’s a number of years ago and since then it has gone on to become one of our most popular Irish cheeses.
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: Goat’s MILK, salt, cultures, rennet, lysozyme (EGG)
Allergens in BOLD
| Nutritional information | Typical values per 100g |
| Energy | 1550kJ/374kcal |
| Fat | 29.1g |
| Of which saturates | 19.25g |
| Carbohydrate | 3g |
| Of which sugars | <0.1g |
| Fibre | <1g |
| Protein | 24.9g |
| Salt | 1.6g |
