Real Olive Co & Toons Bridge Dairy - Toons Bridge Cardo

We make this cheese in our dairy from sheep milk. Cardoon thistle is a plant grown all over the Mediterranean from Portugal to Greece, as well as being a food in its own right it is also used to coagulate milk for cheese. It is normally only used on sheep or goat milk where it works in a similar but slightly different way to animal rennet. It produces a bitter floral flavour that is distinctive and ages well. It also makes the cheese softer as is typical in the Portuguese and Western Spanish cheeses. The cheese that we make is thermophilic, curdling the milk at 36C and cooking the curd to around 48C. It ages well and has the distinctive cardoon back flavour. Because it is made with a vegetable based rennet it is suitable for vegetarians that do not accept animal rennet.

Contains: MILK