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Cheese from Ireland, County Cork

Milleens

A soft to semi-soft washed-rind farmhouse cheese from the Beara Peninsula, made from the milk of Friesian cows with mesophilic lactic starters. After brining, the rind is washed with brine and its smear grows from the farm's own yeasts and bacteria, with no ripening culture added. It matures in four to ten weeks.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo source gives amounts.
Milk of Friesian cows from the Beara Peninsula[milleens-site]
Mesophilic lactic starter[mounier2005]
Brine, for salting and washing the rind[mounier2005][milleens-site]
Startermesophilic lactic starter; no commercial ripening culture on the rind

Total time across the recorded steps: 28 days – 2.3 months

Start
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What changes: Mesophilic starter goes into the warm pasteurised milk

Step 1 of 5
Pasteurise and add starter
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts

In the 2005 study, Milleens was made from pasteurised milk with a mesophilic lactic starter.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

A soft to semi-soft washed-rind farmhouse cheese from the Beara Peninsula, made from the milk of Friesian cows with mesophilic lactic starters. After brining, the rind is washed with brine and its smear grows from the farm's own yeasts and bacteria, with no ripening culture added. It matures in four to ten weeks. Made in 5 steps over 28 days – 2.3 months. The longest step, mature, takes 28 days – 2.3 months (Wikipedia). Salt is 1.6 % (Mounier J 2005). Mesophilic lactic starter bacteria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step28 days – 2.3 monthsReported[milleens-wiki]Mature
Salt1.6 %Measured[mounier2005]Wash the rind

What makes this one different

One of the first modern Irish farmhouse cheeses. Unlike its neighbours Gubbeen, Durrus and Ardrahan, no ripening culture is smeared on it, so its rind flora is entirely the farm's own.

Milk
Friesian cow milk from the Beara Peninsula
Ripening
Four to ten weeks
Rind
Washed with brine; no commercial ripening culture, so the smear comes from the farm's own flora

Related ferments

Safety

In the 2005 study Milleens was made from pasteurised milk, unlike the neighbouring Durrus, which was not. The study gives a surface salt-in-moisture of 1.6 % for Milleens and surface pH values of 5.9 to 6.8 across the four cheeses.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Norman and Veronica Steele moved to Milleens in 1975 and began making cheese in 1976. It won Supreme Champion at the British Cheese Awards in 1997.

  1. [mounier2005] Mounier J, Gelsomino R, Goerges S, et al. 2005, Surface microflora of four smear-ripened cheeses, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71(11):6489-6500paper
  2. [milleens-site] Milleens Cheese Ltd, website (the cheese and its story)other
  3. [milleens-wiki] Wikipedia, 'Milleens'wiki