Ingot

Ingot takes its name from three sources – 1. the shape is a like a gold ingot, 2. Martin’s surname is Gott and finally 3. as a nod to Innes cheese, (this cheese was developed from the ‘Innes Brick’ recipe when it ceased being made).  The goats (and cheese moulds!) originally came from Innes Cheese, who were at the forefront of the revolution in British goats cheese-making, starting in 1987 with the famous Innes Button.

The coronavirus pandemic caused many farmhouse cheese-makers to struggle to sell cheese to their normal markets.  The Staffordshire-based makers of the brilliant Innes goats’ cheese decided enough was enough and it was time to retire. Martin and Nicola jumped at the chance to take on their herd of goats and move them up to Cumbria.  The herd had been bred along the rare Golden Guernsey breed for 30 years, specifically to produce fabulously rich and good quality raw milk – perfect for cheese-making – and would suit Martin and Nicola’s move towards a more sustainable extensive farming system by feeding off the land (Martin and Nicola use a non-intensive method of farming: their animals graze the rich fields of the Holker Estate Farm and are only milked once a day, making for a less-stressed animal and better-quality milk).

Overnight they had to develop a cheese to go alongside their sheep’s milk cheeses. Their first development was Holbrook, a hard goats’ cheese because of the pandemic, hard cheeses being more stable, and thus not as time-sensitive.

As the cheese-market started to recover when restaurants started to reopen in spring 2021, they started to use the goats’ milk to make softer, richer goats’ cheese – as Martin says, “the reason we bought the goats was to make cheese like this”.

Ingot is based on typical French ‘lactic’ cheeses commonly found in the Loire valley.  Using home-made ‘natural’ cheese cultures from soured milk (to truly capture their ‘terroir’), Martin sets the milk gently overnight.  The curds are then delicately hand-ladled into brick shaped moulds.  Hand-ladling and drainage in these moulds gives this lactic cheese a mousse-like texture.  The cheeses is then aged for two weeks to form a paper-thin wrinkly yeast rind, with occasional natural blue and white spots (all edible); this further breaks it down to give it a richer herbaceous goaty flavour.  At three weeks old it is ready to be enjoyed.

The rind of this cheese can vary because of seasonal variation and will occasionally show blue/white/green fluffy spots.  All are completely edible and natural.  For more details you can read about natural cheese rinds here.

Interested to know more?  Read this interview with Martin Gott or this feature on Holker Farm in 2008.

Nutritional Data (typical values, per 100g):
Energy 1501kj/362kcal
Fat 30.2g (of which saturates 16.96g)
Carbohydrates 4.8g (of which sugars 1.6g)
Protein 18.2g
Salt 1.6g

Weight: 1 x 190g cheese.

This product will have two weeks’ shelf life from the date of delivery.  Conveniently, at checkout you can choose a delivery date well in the future if you would like your cheese delivering for a specific event.

Ingredients: Milk, salt, cheese cultures and rennet.