Week 16 – Kerrygold’s Aged Cheddar vs. Skellig (sweet cheddar), guest starring Dominic and Byron

Sorry for the delayed post, truth is I haven’t felt very inspired to write lately. That, and I’ve been housesitting so it’s been harder since I'm out of my normal routine.

I know what you're thinking, another aged cheddar? Well! Jokes on you because this is actually the same aged cheddar that I didn't bother writing about in the last post, however, Dominic brought over a sweet cheddar (Skellig) of the same brand so I thought it would be interesting to do a compare and contrast, a duel of duels. To go with the cheeses we had a Red Diamond Merlot and a Henry McKenna Bourbon, as well as some fig jam to pair. With the tip of his hat from our wine bottle stopper (who I named Geppetto, you know, cause of the whole carved wooden boy thing, later in the night I also called him Gestapo which is…less fitting...) the battle of the cheddars was on.

A little about our sponsor: Normally, when I research companies or dairy farms finding information on them is very easy, I mean, it's 2016 and Wikipedia exists. If you search Kerrygold they pop up, but they give you very little information, except that they are very, very, proud of their butter. However, things like; how long they've been in business, their location, how they produced their cheese (or even their goddamn butter for that matter) isn't anywhere on their website.

And that’s because Kerrygold is owned by a food co-op call Ornua, previously known as The Irish Dairy Board. In 1961, The Irish Dairy Board was created to concentrate the overseas market of Irish dairy products and attain higher brand recognition. Today, Ornua is Ireland’s biggest export of Irish dairy products. The name Kerrygold was chosen to evoke "farming, naturalness, goodness and above all quality milk" as well as a “sense of Irishness”. The Kerrygold brand debuted in 1962.

"I'm just going to stare at the cheese"

In this corner: Kerrygold’s Aged Cheddar

This aged cheddar is a grass fed cow’s milk cheese, aged for one year, and is held to a strict grading process as it ages; only the highest quality makes it to market. They use the same land and method’s that monks perfected thirteen centuries before. It’s a hard cheese, with a rich, sharp flavor, and a crunchy salty bite.

And this this corner: Kerrygold’s Skellig (sweet cheddar):

Introduced in the US in 2013, Skellig is also a grass fed cow’s milk cheese. The cheese was released in the US as an anticipated trend, sweet cheddars had become a popular item in Europe and it was only a matter of time before it caught on overseas. It’s a much softer cheese than the aged cheddar, sweet, creamy, with fruity undertones.

And the winner is! (Drumroll please)

The sweet cheddar! I mean, I wasn’t in love with the aged cheddar to start, that’s why I had it for so long. But the fig jam with the Merlot (which was also very sweet) took the Skellig to a whole other level. Instead of the sweet jam clashing with the sweet cheese they actually complimented each other perfectly bringing out the best flavor in both. Skellig would also go great with some fruits, some grapes of strawberries perhaps.