Over the past decade, Sheridans has changed how we think of Irish cheese, writes Gemma Tipton
Ten years ago, Irish farmhouse cheeses were better known almost anywhere in the world than they were in Ireland. Back then cheese here seemed to consist of the plastic slabs that build little orange walls in supermarket fridges. Then, in 1995, Seamus and Kevin Sheridan opened a stall at Galway market, and everything changed. "I was running a food shop, Food Nation, with Terry Barman," says Seamus. "There was some cheese that wasn't selling, and I took it to the market. It was as simple as that."
The renaissance of cheese-making in Ireland actually began back in 1976, when Brisket, a cow owned by Veronica Steele, was giving her more milk than she knew what to do with. Steele got some Department of Agriculture leaflets and started to make Milleens, the first of the new generation of Irish farmhouse cheeses. "It's a bit like getting married," says Steele. "You've no idea what's in store. I don't know why there was no farmhouse cheese before us. But, then again, not all people who love cheese have a cow."
The intervening 10 years haven't always been easy. Kevin remembers saving up for months to buy a pricing gun, not to mention carrying buckets of hot water from the baby-changing rooms at Eyre Square shopping centre to their first kiosk there. "I think at some points we were just too bloody minded to close," he says.
But the tenacity has been worth it. Today you can go to Sheridans Cheesemongers' shops and stalls and find staff refreshingly free of the sort of food snobbery that can leave a bad taste in your mouth. They also have a sense of fun, know all about the cheeses, and are happy to give you delicious slivers to whet your appetite.
Tasting is crucial, as the Sheridan brothers' colleague Fiona Corbett explains. "How do you know what you'd like unless you've tried it?" And that's what makes the shops such a treat. You can spend €5 or €50 and experience the pleasure of trying something new every time.
The other vital ingredient of Sheridans is quality. In addition to Irish cheeses such as Milleens, Ardrahan, Durrus, Gubbeen and Cashel Blue, they are the only places in Ireland where you can buy Montgomery Cheddar, perhaps the best in the world, and one of only four real Cheddars still being made. Montgomery is a taste explosion, as is the Parmesan they stock. Matured by Giorgio Cravero, it is amazing. Cravero's relationship with Sheridans began when he met Seamus at a slow-food festival in Italy. Cravero emphasises the importance of government support for local food production. "It's a cultural property of Italy, but in Ireland all the producers are alone, against the market and against industry."
Delis and speciality food shops are common enough these days, Sheridans having led the field for a great many imitators, but as the food writer John McKenna says: "It was a big leap of faith when they started, a very radical thing to do." McKenna, who dedicated the current Bridgestone Irish Food Guide to Sheridans, says you can't overestimate the shops' importance. Darina Allen agrees. "These are the people who are helping to change the image of Irish food," she says. "Artisan cheese-making - a tiny industry in Ireland - has had an impact far out of proportion to its size. Sheridans have been in the vanguard of that."
Rob Kaufelt, who owns New York's famous Murray's Cheese Shop, calls Seamus Sheridan "the Irish poet of cheese". "They have done a great thing for Irish food," he says. "Not just for artisan cheese but for foods still made in the old ways, and they have done it with a style, grace and generosity rarely found these days."
Sheridans also sells wines, salamis, pastas, olive oils, terrines, tarts and sandwiches. It has just bought a new premises, the Old Railway Station and House in Kells, Co Meath, where it plans to establish its warehouse as a place to visit. You will be able to see the cheeses maturing, eat a meal, wander by the meandering stream. It sounds idyllic.
Sheridans Cheesemongers is at 11 South Anne Street, Dublin 2 (01-6793143), 7 Pembroke Lane, Dublin 4 (01-6608231), 14-16 Churchyard Street, Galway (091-564829) and farmers' markets in Dublin, Galway and Co Kildare. See www.sheridanscheesemongers.com