Description The flavors of Coolea are sweet and rich, with hints of caramel, butterscotch and honey. Smooth and close textured, it is reminiscent of Dutch Gouda. This cheese is made on a small farm in Coolea in the beautiful Derrynasaggart Mountains of County Cork, but the inspiration for its style can be found in the much flatter terrain of the Netherlands. Dick and Helene Willems moved to Ireland from their native Holland in the late 1970s, and the cheese they produce from the pasteurized milk of a local herd of Holstein-Friesian cows mirrors a traditional Dutch Gouda make: the curds scalded and washed to remove some of the lactose and reduce the acidity, pressed for around six hours, then brushed by hand with yellow coating before being matured for at least three months and often much longer. Please expect some variation, up to 5%, on your hand-cut piece of cheese
