The Irish Kerrygold brand is definitely doing their best to sell their Irish butter and cheeses in the United States (U.S.). Recently, while shopping at the Laurel, Maryland Sam's Club store, I stumbled upon their Ballyshannon cheddar. As the cheese is made in Ireland and, I like Ireland a lot, I decided to buy a pre-cut block of their Ballyshannon and Dubliner (review coming later after I've tried it) cheeses.
As I stated, their Ballyshannon cheddar comes in pre-cut and wrapped blocks packed by the Irish Dairy Board Inc in Evanston, Illinois. Sam's Club sells the cheese for $5.97 (U.S.) a pound. My pre-cut block weighed 1.8 pounds. The cheddar is different from other cheddar cheeses I've seen in that it has an ivory color vice the normal yellow. Like other cheddar cheeses, the Ballyshannon is a firm cheese with a good flavor. The cheese has a good shelf life as the one I tried supposedly would've been good till the end of October. However, like other cheeses, it must be refrigerated at all times.
Store wise, there are a wide range of stores in the United States that carry Kerrygold products. I checked the www.kerrygoldusa.com webpage for locations near where I live that sell their products and, I found out, Giant, Weis, Safeway, Shoppers Food Warehouse also sell their products. While I didn't see it listed on their website, I know the Costco in Elkridge/Columbia sells their Dubliner and Blarney Castle (review coming later once I've tried it) cheeses. I can't tell you how their prices stack up compared to Sam's Club. I would think Costco would be comparable with the others being more expensive.
Overall, I was pretty pleased with the Ballyshannon cheddar. It reminded me of my tour of Ireland and my hope I can visit there again some day. I'm looking forward to trying the Dubliner and Blarney Castle cheeses I bought. Stay tuned for reviews on those. Bon appetit!
Update February 26, 2014: I visited Costco's Glen Burnie, Maryland store and, I found out you'll pay a premium for Kerrygold's Irish butter. Their butter sells for $4.66 a pound there which is over $2.50 more a pound than Costco's brand which sells for $2.12 a pound. Personally, I suspect Kerrygold's butter isn't worth the premium (butter is butter to me) though I haven't taste tested it yet.
4 comments:
Where are the other Kerrygold cheese reviews?
Kiyenna, apparently I never got around to writing reviews on their Dubliner or Blarney cheeses though I know I've tried them. I'll have to see about buying a block of either so, I can write a review on them for you.
I just purchased this cheese and was researching it when I found your blog, just to let you know, cheddar cheese is normally white, the yellow or orange cheddar as coloring. When produced, cheddar cheese is naturally white to light yellow in color. The dark yellow, almost orange, color we typically see in cheddar cheese is the result of a coloring additive. This comes from a plant extract of the achiote tree called annatto. This additive gives the naturally white cheddar cheese that deep yellow, or orange, appearance.
I love the Kerrygold cheese varieties -- the Dubliner is the best as it's filled with flavor and a bit salty. As for the butter, once we tried it we dropped any and all other brands. It's over the top good in my view. Is it just because it reminds me of the visits we've made to Ireland, and the purity of the butter and milk you can get there? Yep, in part. But also it's also flavor.
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