The Strathearn Cheese Story
by Pierre Leger
It’s now been 5 years since we set up Strathearn Cheese Co. Having worked for a supplier to the restaurant trade for a number of years, I wanted to set up my own business and be my own boss. I asked my wife for a home cheese making kit one Christmas and so it began. I was so surprised and pleased by the results that I was getting, that the business idea was born. I enrolled Drew, a friend from our Rugby club to join me as a partner. Legend has it that I got him drunk after a game and made him sign the paperwork.
We moved into our premises in January 2016, the old kitchens of a disused WWII prisoner of war camp at Cultybraggan, outside Comrie in Perthshire. Production soon followed with cow’s milk sourced locally. The first few batches were a rollercoaster of emotions. Cheese cultures need to establish themselves in a new environment and results were really all over the place. We persevered and eventually started to get more consistent results after 4 months. Our first cheese was the Strathearn, a rind washed cheese with the local Glenturret malt whisky. The cheese is washed in a brine every 2 days for 4 weeks or until a pungent, ivory coloured rind forms. A very laborious process and probably the reason there are not many rind washed cheeses around
Inspired by the vast amounts of wild garlic growing in Spring near our local river, we worked on a soft, creamy cheese topped with dried flakes of locally foraged wild garlic and a spot of local rapeseed oil flavoured with truffle. We named that cheese the Lady Mary after a local walk along the river Earn where wild garlic grows in abundance.
It wasn’t long before the natives became restless and demanded a third cheese! So, to complete the range, we launched the Wee Comrie. In contrast to the other 2, this is a mild and mellow cheese, buttery and extremely easy to eat. The Wee Comrie has a supple texture and whilst worthy of its place on any cheeseboard, we have found it makes a lovely alternative to Reblochon for a Tartiflette (or Wee Comrieflette as we now know it).
I came to Scotland 30 years ago and worked in hotels and restaurants, then supplying fish and speciality food to chefs and I have fallen in love with this country; its food, its people, the whisky and landscape.
I have been fortunate enough to meet and supply people like Betty and Fred, who are as passionate about good food whether it hails from Scotland and further afield.
Our cheeses can be found in cheese shops, delis, farmshops, online and on restaurant cheeseboards across the U.K.
Pierre Leger is partner, cheesemaker (and everything else!) at Strathearn Cheese Co.