TORRYLINN CREAMERY

Cheese-making and Cheese Shop
Kilmory KA27 8PQ
Contact: Margaret McIver
Tel\Fax: 01770 870240

Grazing on lush southern grasslands are the herds of black and white Friesian cows which supply the Torrylinn Creamery. Around ten dairy farms supply milk to the Creamery which has been on this site since the 1940s when it was built by the Milk Marketing Board (MMB) to make a cheddar type of cheese known as Arran Dunlop. Today, it has survived the demise of the MMB and is now owned by Scottish Milk Products, yet it continues to make the same creamy tasting Dunlop type cheese with the old hands on creamery methods. Like small creameries on other West Coast islands, it escaped the 70s and 80s amalgamation into large scale industrial units which now make continuous-production cheddar. The distinctive Arran cheese survives.

Its Dunlop-type characteristics make it a creamier, more subtly flavoured, less acidic cheese than a traditional cheddar. Its particular character is created, not just by the people who make it, but also by the island's volcanic soil, its high rainfall and the dairy cows who convert the prolific grasslands into rich Arran milk. Every day, large holding-tanks are filled with full-cream morning and evening milk. Creamery manager, Margaret McIver, begins the cheese making process by pumping the previous evening's milk through the pasteurising system (heated to 72 degrees C) and then into an open stainless steel vat. Lactic acid bacteria is added to give the cheese its character and then rennet to set the curd. In a matter of twenty to thirty minutes the curd is beginning to look solid. McIver puts her hand in and gently lifts a handful of curd to check on the set. 'Yes, it's ready,' she says, 'See how the curd breaks open cleanly.'

Then revolving knives are lowered into the vat and they start to cut the curd into cubes. Instantly the curds and whey begin to separate. The curds sinking to the bottom as the rubbery protein squares squeeze out the liquid whey. As the acidity rises, the contents of the vat are separated and the creamy yellow curds are pumped onto a long stainless steel trough.

Four cheese makers lean over the trough, pulling heaps of rubbery cheese crumbs into a pile as the whey continues to run out. Every so often, they test the acidity, which is constantly rising. If the curd becomes too acid, it will make a harsh cheese. If it is too alkali, it will taste bland. Now the curd crumbs are beginning to stick together. Two long strips of rubbery mass have formed which the cheese makers cut into square blocks about the size of a small cushion.

Moving up and down the trough they start to turn the heavy blocks of solid curd. It's a hands-on job for everyone in the creamery and I take my turn at lifting over the blocks. The acidity is rising. The texture is less hard and rubbery now and is becoming more silky soft. Now it's about right. The curd can be shredded.

This is known as 'cheddaring'. The method first perfected by English cheese makers in the Cheddar area and subsequently adopted throughout the country as the most successful method of making this kind of hard cheese. Once all the cheese has been cheddared, the salting begins. The cheese makers, once again, hanging over the trough to make sure that every crumb is evenly salted. Then the moulds are filled and finally pressed. Meantime another vat is filling with the morning's milk and the cheese maker is adding a new mix of starter bacteria.

Product Range: Arran Dunlop in half pound and one pound rounds, aged around 9 months. One of the Highlands and Islands Range.

Distribution: Retail and Wholesale.
Delivery Area: Local and National.
Shop open all year - 10.00 - 4.00.
Viewing area of cheese making in production.