Strathearn Cheese in Scotland, which closed last year, has been resurrected by a 26-year-old former chef, who says the company’s cheeses were “too good to lose”.
The business, based at Cultybraggan (a former Prisoner of War camp) near Crieff in Perth & Kinross, was shut down by former owner Pierre Leger at the end of last year. But it has now been bought by former employee Ben Hodgson, who plans to grow sales beyond Scotland.
Hodgson, who previously worked as a pastry chef at the prestigious Gleneagles hotel, restarted production at the unit earlier this year, making the soft cow’s milk cheese Wee Comrie. The wild garlic topped lactic cheese Lady Mary is also now being made again with production of the whisky-washed Strathearn due to resume in the New Year.
“We’ve got permission to expand the site with a shipping container, which will help give us more maturation and production space,” said Hodgson. “The cheeses made here were just too good to lose. There isn’t a huge number of artisan cheesemakers in Scotland so it feels good to be back making cheese.”
Hodsgon has re-hired cheesemaker Kirsty McCabe and is in the process of getting his cheeses re-listed with Scottish wholesalers ahead of what he expects to be a busy Christmas. “There’s huge demand for local food in shops and restaurants in Scotland, and we’ve had a great response from customers at local farmer’s markets. In the long term I’d love to get national distribution across the UK.”
He added: “I don’t think there are many people my age with a passion for cheesemaking, but it shows the multi-generational appeal of the simple cheese.”
This article first appeared in the October-November issue of Fine Food Digest.
