South Caernarfon Creameries partners up with Welsh brands

The oldest dairy co-operative in Wales, South Caernarfon Creameries (SCC), has teamed up with Anglesey brand Halen Môn to create a Sea Salt Cheddar, said to be the first sea salt cheese to be made in Wales.

The cheese is made with 100% milk from Welsh cows at the SCC factory using pure Halen Môn sea salt from seawater pumped from the Menai Strait of Anglesey. It’s part of a new Handcrafted range of cheeses produced under the SCC Dragon label, which also features a cheddar aged in the Llechwedd slate caverns at Blaenau Ffestiniog, and a speciality version made with Penderyn whisky.

The new Sea Salt Cheddar has been in development for two years thanks to Linda Lewis Williams, new product development manager at South Caernarfon Creameries, and Halen Môn’s owners, husband and wife team Alison and David Lea-Wilson.

It is a marriage made in heaven, said Linda: “We have taken two iconic brands, both rooted in high quality Welsh provenance and created a cheese for Wales to truly be proud of. Salt has always been used in cheese as it is the ultimate preservative, it also brings out the depth of flavour in the cheese.”

SCC managing director Alan Wyn Jones added: “The handcrafted range is something we have been working on for some time, we wanted to provide a luxury range celebrating the provenance of some of our finest Welsh ingredients.

“This has been made possible thanks to the significant investment in our cheesemaking plant on the Llyn Peninsula, allowing us to create unique infusions and blends using traditional techniques but producing on a large scale for the retail market.

“The results are testament to the quality of the produce from our 128 farming members across north and mid Wales as well as the skill of our cheesemakers.”

Image: Linda Lewis Williams, new product development manager at South Caernarfon Creameries (centre) with Halen Môn’s owners, David and Alison Lea-Wilson (left and right)