Murray's Cave Aged Limited Selkie
- Pasteurized
- Animal Rennet
- Age: 2 Months
- Cow Milk
- by Murray's Cheese Caves
- United States
- ApproachableAdventurous
- SoftHard
An assertive little cheese with Irish coastal flair, Selkie is a limited release from Murray’s Cheese Caves that’s for true funk lovers. Handcrafted wheels from von Trapp Farmstead arrive at our caves from Vermont, where we wash them in an Irish sea salt brine and sprinkle them with Irish sugar kelp. The result is a silky soft interior and a punch of meaty umami and funk. Made for the adventurous at heart, serve this lovable stinker with a side of salami and pickles.
“When someone walks up to our cheese case and asks for our stinkiest cheese, this is the one I’ll give them to taste. The aroma may be pungent, but the flavor is incredible and so balanced. I love the slight brininess from the sea salt and kelp.”
Allergens: Milk
- We created Selkie to bring the funk to our caves—for the cheese lovers who come up to our counter and ask us for our strongest cheese.
- The name nods to its Irish and oceanic influences—the selkie is a mythical creature of Celtic and Norse origins that looks like a seal in water but takes human form on land.
- The unaged wheels come to us from von Trapp Farmstead Creamery, a family-run operation in Waitsfield, Vermont.
- In our caves, we regularly wash the cheese in a brine made with Irish PDO sea salt from Port Oriel, Clogherhead.
- A regular wash in brine helps develop that sticky orange rind, a hallmark of washed rind cheeses.
- We sprinkle the cheese with foraged organic sugar kelp (also from Ireland), a type of edible brown seaweed known for its sweet, slightly vegetal flavor.
- After one month of regular washes, we wrap it and leave it to age for a few more weeks in our Washed Rind Cave to further intensify the flavors and soften the interior.
- The final aged cheese blends high-quality Vermont cheesemaking with Irish terroir in one pungent wheel that’s incredibly luscious, brimming with notes of peanut and meaty umami.
- At Murray’s Cheese Caves in Queens, New York, our experts age and mature cheeses to perfection, creating unique products that are exclusive to Murray’s.
- We built our caves to enhance the quality of our products, as well as to honor the craft of cheesemakers across the globe. The practice of aging cheese, known in French as affinage, was relatively rare in the United States when we built our first set of caves in 2004.
- The cheeses that mature in our caves are crafted in a variety of ways, which are reflected on their labels, described below.
- Cave Aged Original cheeses are produced from a Murray’s original recipe—we have a hand in every step of the cheesemaking process.
- Cave Aged Reserve cheeses are made in collaboration with some of our favorite cheesemakers. They send us unaged wheels, and we use unique aging techniques to produce something completely new.
- Cave Aged Limited cheeses are born out of our constant innovation and experimentation, only available for a limited time.
- Cheeses in the Cave Aged category are aged in our caves with methods that replicate the treatment they would’ve received from their original producer. This category is largely populated by bloomy rind cheeses that don’t fare well in transport.
- Murray's operates four caves, designed to ensure that each cheese matures in its ideal environment—the Bloomy Rind Cave, Natural Rind Cave, Washed Rind Cave, and Alpine Cave.
- The temperature, humidity, and microbial activity in each cave are controlled and monitored with the greatest precision.
When you receive your cheese, unpack the order and refrigerate the items. We
recommend using the cheese paper we send most of our products in to store the cheese.
The cheese paper helps cover the items and stop them from drying out, while also allowing
the cheese to breathe. Since cheese is mold, it's a living thing! If you cut off air circulation
to the cheese, you can actually cause it to suffocate and spoil at a faster rate.
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