Dear Food Editor:

As we move into the busy holiday season, Kerrygold, makers of premium butter and cheeses from Ireland, has some timely new product news to share.

Two new butters:

• Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter for easy spreading
• Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter with 25 percent less fat and 50 percent less sodium

Click here for a press release and downloadable high-resolution photos.

An artisanal, farmhouse cheese:

• Cashel Blue is Ireland’s original blue cheese developed in 1984 by the husband and wife team of Jane and Louis Grubb
• It is still made entirely by hand on the Grubb family farm, will now be sold under the Kerrygold brand

Click here for a press release and downloadable high-resolution photos. And, as with all Kerrygold dairy products, the new introductions are made with milk from Ireland’s grass-fed cows.

For availability of the new butters or Cashel Blue cheese in your area or for additional photos, please call or email Molly O’Loughlin.

Molly O’Loughlin, 847.492.8331
moloughlin@idbusa.com
Irish Dairy Board

Sandy Hu, 415.626.1765
sandy@sandyhufm.com
Sandy Hu Food Marketing

Kerrygold Introduces Two New Butters

Reduced Fat and Naturally Softer Create New Functional Category for Real Butter

Kerrygold is creating a new functional category for real butter with the introduction of Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter for easy spreading and Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter, with 25 percent less fat and 50 percent less sodium. Unlike current butter-type spreads, these premium butters contain no additives.

As with all Kerrygold dairy products, the new butters are made with milk from Ireland’s grass-fed cows raised on small family farms. Cows receive no growth hormones.

Kerrygold Reduced Fat Butter
Luxuriously rich-tasting, Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter, with 25% less fat and 50% less sodium than traditional butter, tastes like full-fat butter, retaining the same unctuous mouthfeel and luscious flavor qualities. Research shows that consumers want healthful, indulgent, premium food products. Kerrygold Reduced Fat Butter meets these conflicting demands without resorting to the use of additives such as vegetable oil blends or butter flavoring, ensuring a delicious, natural, functional butter option.

Format: 8-ounce tubs
Availability: In supermarkets beginning July

Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter
Consumers say they want new food products to help save time and simplify their life. New Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter saves precious minutes as a more easily spreadable premium Irish butter, while maintaining the same prized richness and flavor of traditional Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter. To make softer butter, Kerrygold uses summer milk, which is highest in naturally softer milkfat. This milk is churned using a proprietary method that increases the softer milkfat, resulting in a more spreadable butter. Unlike most spreads, it’s the natural processes; not the use of less expensive vegetable oil or other additives, that make this butter more spreadable.

Format: 8-ounce tubs
Availability: In supermarkets beginning July

The Kerrygold Family of Butters
According to Nielsen data for the period ending March 26, 2011, Kerrygold is the #9 ranked butter brand in the U.S. and holds the second highest brand ACV ranking at 45%.

New Kerrygold Reduced Fat Butter and Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter join Kerrygold’s family of butters: Kerrygold Salted and Unsalted Pure Irish Butter in ½-pound foil blocks, and Kerrygold Garlic and Herb Butter in 3.5-ounce sticks.

Photos

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Irish Dairy Board Introduces Cashel Blue Farmhouse Cheese

Ireland’s Artisanal Blue Cheese to be Sold under the Kerrygold Brand

The Irish Dairy Board has introduced its second authentic farmhouse cheese, Cashel Blue, to join its extensive family of Kerrygold dairy products.

Developed in 1984, Cashel Blue is Ireland’s original artisanal blue cheese and is the creation of the husband and wife team of Jane and Louis Grubb. The cheese is made entirely by hand on the Grubb family farm near Cashel in County Tipperary, Ireland. This acclaimed cheese won gold at the World Cheese Awards in 2006 and 2010.

Like all Kerrygold dairy products, only milk from cows that graze on Ireland’s luxuriant pastures is used, and no growth hormones are allowed. The majority of the milk used to make Cashel Blue comes from the pedigreed Friesian dairy herd on the farm.

Cashel Blue is semi-soft and a voluptuously creamy cheese. It has a round, full flavor and slight blue tang. The cheese is a buttery color, threaded with characteristic blue veining, and large blue flecks from Penicillium roqueforti, the fungus used in Roquefort, Stilton and other blue cheeses. This cheese ages beautifully and the flavors become more pronounced over time.

Format: Available in 3-pound random weight wheels.

Uses: Fabulous on a cheese board with ripe pears, figs, water crackers or walnut bread; melted on grilled steak; mixed into salads dressings; topping salads; stuffed in celery sticks and dates.

Availability: Available now. Interested buyers can contact their Kerrygold cheese and butter representative, email Kerrygold@idbusa.com or call 847.492.8036 for sales information.

The new cheese joins a family of favorites: Kerrygold Duhallow farmhouse cheese, Dubliner, Aged Cheddar, Reduced Fat Aged Cheddar, Reserve Cheddar, Red Leicester, Ivernia, Blarney Castle, Swiss, Dubliner with Irish Stout, and Aged Cheddar with Irish Whisky. Kerrygold also is known for its salted and unsalted Pure Irish Butter and Kerrygold Garlic & Herb Butter. This year Kerrygold also introduced two new butters, Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter and Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter. For more information about Kerrygold dairy products, visit www.kerrygoldusa.com.

Photos

To download photos, right click (cmd click on a Macintosh, choose "Save Image As") on the photo itself and choose "Save target as" or "Save picture as" from the menu. Because of the large file sizes, the photos may take some time to download depending on your Internet connection speed.

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The Irish Dairy Board is the marketing and selling cooperative created by Ireland’s small dairy farmer co-ops and co-op creameries to export butter and cheeses all over the world. “Kerrygold” is the international brand of the Irish Dairy Board. Kerrygold butter and cheeses are widely sold in the United States in supermarkets and specialty food stores. For a store finder, visit www.kerrygoldusa.com/where-to-buy/. For more information about Kerrygold butters and cheeses, visit www.kerrygoldusa.com.