Ballylisk Dairies is the cream cheese of County Armagh

Dean Wright operates a successful dairy farm in Ballylisk, Portadown, which has been in his family since 1820.

CAFRE Technologist Gary Andrews welcomes Dean Wright who is taking part in the Food Pavilion for the first time at Balmoral Show 2018.

Through his participation in an Artisan Dairy Products Programme at CAFRE Loughry Campus he has taken the opportunity to diversify his farm business.

In 2017, Dean was awarded an Invest NI Innovation Voucher to develop a cheese using milk from the Ballylisk herd. He reviewed the cheese market on the island of Ireland and identified a niche market for a premium triple cream cheese product. This is a soft cheese which has cream added to the milk prior to cheese making to develop a rich luxurious cheese with a butterfat content greater than 75%.

The triple cream cheese won first prize in Food NI’s Best New Food Product at this year’s Balmoral Show.

Dean worked with CAFRE’s dairy technologist, Gary Andrews to develop the product and cheesemaking process. This process involved many steps including ingredient selection, recipe development and shelf-life analysis, alongside assessing the commercial feasibility of the product.

Dean said: “The support from CAFRE from initial product concept to commercialisation work was critical in getting the project off the ground. Gary’s knowledge and expertise allowed the translation of the idea into a practical reality.”

Building on the knowledge and technology transfer support from CAFRE Loughry campus, Dean with his brother Mark have set up Ballylisk Dairies Ltd.  This guarantees total control over the entire production process, from ‘farm to fork’.

The cattle within Dean’s herd are all home-bred, thereby providing Ballylisk cheeses and butters with unique traceability and provenance-related attributes. All produce is branded ‘Ballylisk of Armagh’.

The company plans to manufacture a range of artisan cheeses and butters and is working closely with CAFRE in the development of these concepts. Dean hopes to meet the growing demand for artisan dairy products particularly from hotels, restaurants and high-end, premium outlets within the UK & Ireland as well as Europe and further afield.

Ballylisk Dairies currently supplies premium delis across Northern Ireland, such as Arcadia Deli & Sawyers Deli, Belfast, Deli on the Green, Dungannon and Stewart’s Butchers & Deli, Enniskillen.

If you are interested in working with the dairy technologists at Loughry, please contact Dr Rosemary McKee by email: rosemary.mckee@daera-ni.gov.uk or by telephone 028 8676 8163.

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