In rich pasture land beside the River Erne, Silke Cropp makes her wonderful range of goat, sheep and cows' milk cheeses. Silke is one of Ireland's longest-practising cheesemakers, and the original, Corleggy, is a natural rind hard goats' cheese with complex flavours.
In addition, this dedicated artisan now makes Quivvy, a soft goats' cheese preserved in oil; Drumlin, a hard raw cows' milk cheese, named after the prettily undulating small hills that characterise the area and made in several flavours; and Creeny, a semi hard raw milk sheep's cheese.
Handmade daily in small batches, the flavours vary according to season and maturity, but the quality is consistently superb and they're much sought after by leading restaurants.
The hard cheeses, Corleggy and Drumlin, are delicious cooked as well as for the table and keep in rind for months, improving with age.
There is always a ready market for the limited production available from carefully selected retailers, online, and from the markets that Silke attends (where you will also find her daughter Tina and her partner Oisin Healy, of Crêpes in the City).
And Silke sometimes offers cheesemaking lessons, so you could even learn how - with time and patience - to make something similar yourself.
