CHEESE & DAIRY ■ >SOME OF THE INDEPENDENT SPECIALIST DAIRY PRODUCERS IN SCOTLAND: Milk/Cream: Arran Dairies Brodick, Isle of Arran Bonaly Farm Dairy www.bonalyfarmdairy.co.uk Loanhead, Midlothian Clyde Organics www.clydeorganics.co.uk Muirhouse Fram, Carnwath, Lanarkshire
‘Jersey and Guernsey cows produce milk with a particularly rich and creamy taste due to a higher level of butterfat’ scatter the light more effectively. Some people drink milk in its raw form – untreated and essentially straight from the cow. It contains enzymes, higher concentrations of vitamins and probiotics and tastes richer and creamier than treated milk but it may contain bacteria such as salmonella. Since 1983 it has been illegal to sell unpasteurised milk in Scotland. Organic milk is produced from cows that have grazed on grass grown with no additional artificial pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers. Whole milk has nothing added or removed and, contrary to popular belief, is low in fat at around only 3.5 per cent. Skimmed has nearly all the fat removed, but consequently has lower levels of soluble vitamins, though conversely, slightly more calcium. With 2 per cent fat, semiskimmed is the most popular milk in the UK. All dairy products start life as milk. There’s cream (produced by separating the fat from milk through centrifugation; the addition of bacterial culture produces crème fraîche and soured cream); butter (produced by churning cream); yoghurt (produced by live bacterial fermentation of milk with thicker yoghurts the result of separating the whey from the main curd); icecream (frozen sweetened custard most commonly made from cream, milk and egg yolk); and cheese, of which the varieties run into thousands. To produce any cheese, the basic principles are essentially the same: starter cultures are added to milk, which then grow and ripen to develop flavours and aromas. Rennet is added
Grahams www.grahamsfamilydairy.com Airthrey Kerse Farm, Henderson Street, Bridge of Allan Kerr’s Dairy www.kerrsdairy.co.uk Strathmartine Road, Dundee Mitchells www.mitchells-scotland.com Inverurie, Aberdeenshire North Street Dairy www.northstreetdairy.co.uk 22 North Street, Forfar, Angus The Orkney Creamery www.orkneyicecream.com Crantit Dairy, St Ola, Orkney
to coagulate the liquid and turn it into curds and whey, which is then pressed to force out the whey. The cheese is then left to mature. Cream cheeses, including crowdie and fromage frais, are left for a matter of days, while soft cheeses of a camembert style are matured for around 60 to 90 days. Hard cheeses are matured for a long period – mature cheddars are left for six to nine months. The US writer Clifton Fadiman described cheese as ‘milk’s leap towards immortality.’ As an industry, however, Scottish dairies are under pressure. The latest figures collected by the Scottish Dairy Cattle Association show that there are only 1072 dairy farms left in Scotland, around a tenth of the figure 50 years ago. The National Farmers’ Union also estimates that farmers can often lose money on every litre of milk they sell to supermarkets – so why do they do it? Dairy farming is a hard-working, traditional way of life. It is a skill passed down through generations: many farmers’ fathers did it, and their fathers before them. Dairy products – milk, cream and artisan cheeses – are as much an integral part of our Scottish culinary heritage as seafood, game and beef.
Quothquan Farm www.quothquanfarms.co.uk Biggar, Lanarkshire Yester Farm Dairies www.yesterfarmdairies.co.uk Gifford, East Lothian Butter: The Devenick Dairy www.devenickdairy.co.uk Banchory, Aberdeenshire Grahams (see above) Stichill Jerseys Garden Cottage Farm, Kelso Yoghurt: The Devenick Dairy (see above) Katy Rogers Creamery www.knockraich.com/creamery.html Knockraich Farm, Fintry, Stirlingshire Loch Arthur Creamery www.locharthur.org.uk Beeswing, Dumfriesshire Rowan Glen www.dalefarm.co.uk Newton Stewart, Galloway West Highland Dairy www.westhighlanddairy.co.uk Achmore, Stromeferry, Ross-shire For more on cheese and ice-cream producers and specialists, see elsewhere in this chapter and the online listings at www.thelarder.net THE LARDER 69
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