Skryne farmer the big cheese after British win

Skryne not only has a championship football team, it also has a champion cheesemaker. The same weekend as the Tara men were winning the senior county championship, local farmer Dominic Gryson was in Britain where he won a medal at the British Cheese Awards in Cardiff. Now in its 17th year, the British Cheese Awards applauds the work of major producers and one-man-bands alike. Dominic and Fionnuala Gryson's Gleann Geabhra company won a gold medal in the 'new cheeses' category for its Tara Bán cheddar. There are 140 goats at the Gryson farm in Skryne, producing "a lot of milk to deal with," says Dominic. The decision to go into production of dairy products from his goats was not his original plan, which was simply to supply the milk to various clients, as there was a big demand a couple of years back. However, changing markets meant that Dominic had to find some other way of dispensing of his goats' milk, and he began bottling it at first, then turning to ice cream, and six months ago, began making cheese. He began selling the bottled milk in local shops in Skryne, as well as in Blacklion Stores in Kentstown, Ratoath and Super Value in Johnstown. "And people seem to like it, as they come back for more," he said. "A lot seem to believe that they are feeling healthier as a result of using it." The next step was ice cream, and then, six months ago, the cheese, a process of pasteurising, adding cultures, letting it set, separating the curd and whey to cheddar it and put it into the moulds. It also has to be stored to mature. Dominic is currently producing two cheeses, a mild cheese and a fuller flavoured mature cheese. Not content with resting on his laurels, last week he was busy hosting stonewalling and hedge-laying workshops on his Skryne farm.