6 Scottish cheeses and how to use them (according to chefs)

“Cheeses are a really great expression of landscape, and that's what we're all about,” says Pam Brunton, chef-owner at Inver, a small, hyper-local restaurant on the shores of Loch Fyne, on the West Coast of Scotland. Brunton uses primarily Scottish cheeses in her dishes and on her cheeseboards and reading on, perhaps you’ll be persuaded to do the same.

If you don’t know much about Scottish cheese, then let this guide serve as an introduction to the creative and vibrant world of Scottish cheesemaking, an industry that has seen a resurgence in recent years in line with general increased interest in artisan cheesemaking, with potentially more growth ahead as a result of restrictions on imports to a post-Brexit UK.

It wasn’t always the case. By the 1970s, Scotland’s farmhouse cheeses—small scale production, from farmers’ own dairies—had been all but consigned to history due to pressure from the Milk Marketing Board, a government agency set up to support the dairy industry, but which favored mass produced cheeses.

But not anymore, especially with Scotland’s best chefs, like Brunton, and Roberta Hall-McCarron and Stuart Ralston of Edinburgh’s The Little Chartroom and Lyla respectively, singing its praises. Now Scotland’s cheeses are on their way to being talked about in the same breath as its better known exports, such as whisky, beef, and seafood.

“I think it's one of the products that Scotland does really well. We do have a history of extensive animal husbandry, so the animals are outside, treated well, have more space than they might have elsewhere, because we have a lot more space. Therefore the milk that they produce is excellent,” says Brunton.

So, if you’re heading to Scotland and looking to taste the best local products or for a foodie souvenir, these are some of the finest Scottish cheeses to seek out.

“Most of our cheeses that we use are from the Errington family in Lanarkshire, they produce, easily, some of the best cheeses in the country,” says Brunton. “The one we use the most is Corra Linn, which I kind of don't want to tell anybody about, because I know that they are already at capacity. It sells out every batch they make. It’s a very sweet, nutty ewe's milk cheese, similar to Berkswell or something further south. It's a hard cheese, so it's got a good salt presence as well. And we make sauces out of it. We grate it on things, as well as serving it sometimes on cheese plates.”

Brunton likes to serve Corra Linn with lamb and sheep’s milk yogurt she says, also as a way to express all parts of the animal’s life cycle—“We also have sheep skins on the floor, from the same animals that we sometimes have on the plates!” she laughs.

And in terms of storage tips, Bruton has some essential advice: “All cheeses like to breathe. They're living, growing, developing things, and they're full of more living, growing, developing things, all the little microorganisms that give them character and life. So you don't want to ever wrap them in plastic. They want to be wrapped in paper, such as parchment or baking paper, and then stored perhaps in a lidded plastic box in your fridge.”

Another Errington cheese, Lanark Blue, also made from ewe’s milk, is a favorite of Hall-McCarron, chef-owner of Edinburgh’s The Little Chartroom, Eleanore, and Ardfern. She uses it as a counterpoint to fruit desserts at The Little Chartoom and on the cheeseboard at Ardfern. Like Corra Linn, Lanark Blue is made from unpasteurized milk.

“We serve this throughout the year with tart tatins. The fruit varies depending on the season. The saltiness of the cheese works really well with quince, fig and apple,” she says.

Lanark Blue is matured for up eight months and is made with vegetarian rennet. Brunton, also a fan, says it has “sherry-ish characteristics as well as this kind of deep ewe's milk cream.”

Another favorite of Hall-McCarron’s is Dhorlin, a washed (in brine) rind, pasteurized cow’s milk cheese from the Isle of Mull.

“Dhorlin cheese is similar in style to taleggio. We serve it in a pie with a squash and potato gratin. Dhorlin has a very distinct flavor and a lovely texture to it. Not everyone is knocking up pies and tarts tatins at home but these are equally delicious with some nice crisp breads and jam,” she says.

“Washed rind cheeses have a sticky, moist outer surface. So you want to be wrapping them in some kind of wax or parchment paper,” says Brunton, adding: “Allow it to come to room temperature before you eat it, most things taste better without a fridge chill on them, unless it's a jelly.”

“It’s a hard cheese from the Ethical Dairy in Dumfries and Galloway,” says Stuart Ralston, chef-owner at Lyla, Noto, Aizle, and others in Edinburgh. “We use it at Lyla.  We make it into a mousse and dip into a glaze of port wine, and hibiscus. It’s a raw organic cow’s milk [cheese], aged 2-6 months, [with] a very fresh tangy, salty flavor, so could be used really well as a Cheddar substitute.”

At home, Ralston suggests using it in macaroni cheese, béchamel, in a cauliflower cheese sauce, or grilled cheese.

“Minger is a Scottish soft cheese, we use at Aizle as an ice cream, served as a savory cheese course with praline and honey. The milk comes from local farms around Tain. It is pasteurized cow’s milk, very similar to reblochon, and is washed with annatto seeds, which give it a yellow hue and slight flavoring—red Leicester uses it, famously. At home this would be great baked as a fondue. Tartiflette also would be really good with this cheese, it really works well baked into something,” says Ralston.

Strathearn

“There's a Frenchman in Perthshire called Pierre Leger, who makes Strathearn cheese in a disused Second World War bunker,” says Brunton. “Strathearn is a washed rind cheese, very French in character. But of course, as all cheeses do, it will be using the microorganisms from around him, around the area. It's washed with whisky. Usually cheeses are washed with some kind of alcohol, like cider… which creates the landscape for the particular micro flora that make up wash rind cheese to thrive.”

She suggests “just eating slabs of it” or using it to top a crouton in a French onion soup, or simply for a divine cheese on toast at home.

“It's got quite a funk to the smell, but it's actually not particularly strong tasting cheese. It's just a really great depth of flavor, a really great texture to it when it's very ripe. At the moment, we have that on as our cheese course, we have it with fried butter bread, which is brioche soaked in a savory custard, as if you were making eggy bread French toast, but it's brioche, which we fry and then melt the Strathearn over the top of it. We're serving that with a quince mustard and a little salad of bitter leaves,” says Brunton. [Editor’s note: Pierre Leger is planning to sell or close Strathearn from January 2025].