It doesn’t matter who you are most of us, at least once in our lives, dreams of going somewhere out of the norm for a get away from it all holiday, even better if there is some very special food bites you can take back with you to remind yourself of the good times.
If you can continue to feed your passion via shopping over the internet to acquire more of that item every so often, when the work stress really gets to you, well bonus!
I am a cheese fan, always have been, and was saying to a friend a while back that one thing I missed was this little cheese shop I used to go to in southern Ontario that did speciality cheeses with all sorts of added flavours. Well he introduced us to this one, Isle of Arran cheese and is it ever an amazing product coming out of this small island community.
The Isle of Arran cheese shop is just one of those little gems you stumble on while on vacation somewhere, one of those you don’t expect but are completely bowled over when you do find it.. Situated on, of course, the Isle of Arran this local family owned business makes the most incredibly delicious cheeses, preserves, and oaties all for sale in the local shop as well as farmers markets across the UK and now on-line as well.
You know when you get that tingle at the back of your jaw, both sides, when you eat a really spectacularly good bit of cheese? These all did that for us. Their cheeses, those we’ve had, were all terrific.
We had a basket with a selection of cheeses as well as packets of “Wooleys Traditional Oven Baked Arran Oaties” and a chilli tomato relish from their Arran Fine Foods line that was to die for.
Oaties, smaller version of the traditional savoury biscuit called Oatcakes. Made of mainly oatmeal, with some wheat flour and other ingredients, these are perfect little biscuits for a slice of cheese or smoked salmon.
Caramelised Onion; If you like “cheese and onion” anything these days then you have to try this. It’s a much more healthy choice for one, and the flavours are so much better! The onion is in no way overpowering, it is just a hint there in the background of the zing of the perfectly aged cheese.
Cracked Black Peppercorn; Again just the right mix of cheesey goodness and peppery kick this is a fine cheese for nibbling while you watch the tele.
Crushed Stem Ginger; This one worried me at first. I love some ginger things, ginger ale, ginger beer, and who doesn’t like ginger snaps, but stem ginger as in those candied ones are far too strong for me. This cheese however was such a surprise! Brilliantly balanced yet again and even I loved it.
We also had selections of cheddars mixed with; Raspberry Infused Cranberries, Smokey Garlic, Oak Smoked, Wholegrain Arran Mustard, and a lovely Claret Cheddar. All very well balanced between the base cheddar taste and the added infusions of the various flavours.
Arran Fine Foods range Sweet Chilli Relish was just the perfect addition of something hot to the canapé, when combined with any of the cheeses or, when I was being really daring in testing flavour combinations, a smoked salmon/cheese/chilli combo.
The Isle of Arran shop does have a wide range of goods from Flavoured Cheddars, their Deluxe Range, Arran Preserves and Oatcakes, Arran and Scottish Drinks, and a line called James’ Chocolates which you can get individually or in baskets, gift boxes, and hampers.
If you are ordering on-line be aware that since they are on an island, with limited services, there is only one courier and they tell you right on their site that they usually only dispatch on Monday. Tuesday, or Wednesdays.
There is, for those who can get to them, a full list of the 25 farmers markets that they do frequently offer their products at, through other rellers some times. There are also a few select stores that carry these as well, in the UK, so keep your eyes open.
Links:
Isle of Arran Cheese Shop
http://www.islandcheese.co.uk/
Tell them you heard of them here at the I AM A - NETWORK pages!
Visit Arran.net
AbriiD
