Kanturk couple savour the success of their champion cheese

Friends said they were foolish and that it would never work. The friends were wrong

Friends said they were foolish and that it would never work. The friends were wrong. Ms Mary Burns and her husband, Eugene, who farm 200 acres near Kanturk Co Cork, wanted to have a go.

Mary had been making natural yogurt for local children, including her three girls and two boys, when it occurred to her that perhaps she should take the idea a step further.

Last weekend, I tasted the result of her efforts.

It is called Ardrahan cheese and it doesn't need my recommendation because people far more knowledgeable have given their approval. Ardrahan is a local success story. Eugene and Mary Burns started making the cheese in 1983. The French liked it and so France became their first market.

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It took some work, though. Each month, Eugene had to deliver the cheese to the Rungis Market in Paris, where it began to gain a reputation.

Now it is known throughout Ireland, Britain, Europe and further afield. Mary Burns developed her secret recipe through trial and error.

Having tasted it, I have to say the trial was a success. Last year, they exported some 25 tonnes of cheese and already this year 40 tonnes have been sent overseas - to destinations as far away as Saudi Arabia. In the early years they were looking for people to take the produce. These days, people are coming to them.

It's a nice way to have it and even though none of the family has remained on the farm with Mary and Eugene - "they are doing their own thing," as she puts it - there is a clear sense of elation and satisfaction that a local idea has taken root and become such a success.

Last September, at the British Cheese awards in London, Ardrahan won the best Irish cheese and best semi-soft cheese categories.

This was a crowning moment for a local enterprise, but not an unexpected one, Since 1991, Ardrahan has been attracting attention at food exhibitions and cheese tastings in Ireland and Britain. It is made from the pasteurised milk of pedigree cows raised in the rich pastures of the Duhallow area. Although you wouldn't think so, it contains only 25 per cent fat. It is hand made using traditional methods and each cheese is turned daily to allow the edible rind to grow and develop flavour.

One tip is not to keep it under the bed. A full-flavoured cheese, it has the attendant odours to prove it. More success to it.