David Higgins

By his own admission, David Higgins is the baby of the production team, even though he‘s been making award winning cheddar since 1989. He explains why he thinks Fivemiletown’s cheeses are so special, "Well, the starting point is always the same: only the finest milk. But for me cheesemaking is a little like baking a cake; even though two people start out with the same recipe, the results will always reveal the skill and the experience of the baker."

David was taught to make cheese by a master cheesemaker and to this day sees the importance of precision, consistency and judgement, "To get the finest Oakwood I take my best medium strength cheddars and smoke them for just a few hours to get a rich caramel coloured rind and wonderful smoky flavour.”