Say Cheese

Visit any specialty cheese shop these days and you’ll find an incredible selection of homegrown delights. And it’s not because of a CanCon-style obligation either. Canadian artisanal cheese makers are now putting out products that rival the best of European countries — cultures that have been crafting for centuries. Winning awards on the world stage; sought after by internationally prestigious cheese distributors (like U.S.-based Artisanal Premium Cheese, which curates the world’s finest cheeses); and subject of award-winning books like Gurth Pretty’s The Definitive Guide to Canadian Artisanal and Fine Cheese — you might say our cheese industry is, ahem, coming of age.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Eight years ago Gitta Sutherland decided to try to turn 12 litres of milk into cheese — and her experiment worked. This encouraged her to convert a whopping 400 litres with the sole thought: “Well, this better turn out.” Today she can barely keep up with the demand for the four pasteurized cow’s milk cheeses she produces at Poplar Grove Cheese in Naramata, B.C.  

One of her biggest sellers is Tiger Blue, a rich, blue-veined cheese, with a sharp bite and a lingering sweetness. A versatile cheese, Sutherland suggests using it in anything from soups to pasta to salads, or serving a thick slab atop a steak fresh off the BBQ. Another hit is Harvest Moon Washed Rind, a creamy, complex cheese, best served with good bread. “We called that one our teenager,” Sutherland says, “because it has a mind of its own.” She has nicknamed Harvest her “stinky cheese” because of its intense musky smell, though the flavour is quite mild.  

In fact, there are about 16 artisanal cheese producers in B.C., and their reach is impressive. Carmelis Goat Cheese in Kelowna, for example, supplies its Chabichou, Heavenly and Goatgonzola, among others, to local high-end winery restaurants like Mission Hill Terrace and Burrowing Owl. And David Wood, who opened Salt Spring Island Cheese Co. in 1996, sells his fresh, snowy white goat’s milk chèvre, decorated with a vibrant edible flower, and his Blue Juliette as far east as Toronto.  

ALBERTA

After battling for pasture in a beef-crazed province, a few farmstead cheese producers are finally elbowing their way into Alberta. Sylvan Star Cheese Ltd., which opened near Red Deer in 1999, has been around the longest. Owners Jannie and John Schalkwijk produce a wide variety of flavoured Gouda cheese, made from the their own thermalized cow’s milk, and modelled after a traditional Dutch recipe they brought to Canada after immigrating in 1995.

Fairwinds Farm Ltd. near Fort Macleod, in comparison, is a relative newcomer to the cheese scene. Anita and Ben Oudshoorn farmed for 20 years before deciding to try their hand at cheese making, after customers — who regularly bought their goat’s milk and yogurt — kept asking them to try. They started developing recipes for goat’s milk feta and chèvre in their kitchen five years ago, and a year later began selling them commercially. Anita also took a sample of the pungent, creamy feta to Calgary’s famed River Café, where chef Scott Pohorelic tried her cheese back-to-back with the one he had been using. “Wow, that’s pretty good,” she remembers him saying. Today, Pohorelic proudly highlights Fairwinds Farm cheeses on his menu. Anita credits their success to controlling everything from raising feed for the goats to milking the goats (primarily Nubian-Alpine cross) to hand-making the cheese.

ONTARIO

Petra Cooper co-founded the Ontario Cheese Society (inspired by a similar organization in Quebec) in 2004. Hoping to transition from publishing to a family-friendly farming lifestyle, Cooper had discovered there was no centralized body in Ontario offering helpful advice on setting up a small dairy. At the time, she says there were only three artisan cheese makers in the province. Today that number of producers is significantly higher, and includes her own Fifth Town Artisan Cheese, produced at a four-month-old, Platinum-accredited, LEED-certified facility in Prince Edward County.  

Cooper and her master cheese maker, Stephanie Diamant, make about 26 cheeses, some season-specific, using pasteurized goat’s or sheep’s milk. Two of Cooper’s personal favourites are Lost Lake, which has a wrinkly, yeasty rind, a soft, almost-fluffy interior and a taste reminiscent of mushrooms; and Cape Vessey, a firm, washed-rind, goat’s milk cheese that’s uncommon in Ontario.  

Monforte Dairy in Millbank and Upper Canada Cheese Co. in Jordan Station are two other well-known artisanal cheese producers in Ontario. In 2008, Monforte’s owner, veteran chef Ruth Klahsen, was producing more than 16 kinds of sheep’s milk cheese, including Paradiso, one of the few washed-rind sheep’s milk cheeses in the province, and White Sheep, a bloomy rind pyramid. Upper Canada’s stars are Comfort Cream (bloomy rind) and Niagara Gold (semi-soft, washed-rind), both made with the milk of one of only three herds of Guernsey cows in Canada. The rich milk gives both cheeses a yellow, buttery colour, flavour and texture.  

MARITIMES

Willem van den Hoek remembers his early days of cheese making in rural Nova Scotia in the 1980s. “Back when we started, neighbours were excited about the new cheese in town: marble — orange and white cheese mixed together.” But he and his wife Maja, both immigrants from Holland, knew good cheese and decided to become “back-to-the-landers,” Willem says, “just milk a few cows, make a little cheese and live happily ever after.”  

They developed recipes based on traditional Dutch methods, and 30 years later their business — That Dutchman’s Farm — is thriving, specializing in farmstead Gouda, and a creamy, buttery, intense blue cheese wrapped in black wax called Dragon’s Breath Blue. People often tell van den Hoek it’s the best blue they’ve ever had. Is he still passionate about cheese making after all this time? “I don’t get teary-eyed,” he says, “but it’s something real.” He adds that he’s his own best customer, preferring Dragon’s Breath straight up, no bread.  

While van den Hoek set out to produce cheese quite intentionally, Armand Bernard calls himself the “accidental cheese maker.” Although he’s worked with Scott Linkletter, the owner of COWS in Charlottetown, for more than 16 years, he spent most of that time making ice cream.  

Linkletter dabbled in cheese making for eight years before deciding to sell commercially in 2006 after a few trips to Scotland and England, where he studied farmstead cheddar-making techniques with local producers. Made from raw cow’s milk, the method Bernard uses is unique to Canada. The 10-kg rounds of Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar are basted in lard, creating a sticky protective layer, wrapped in muslin for aging and then placed on wooden shelves to age for one year. Avonlea came second in its category in July 2008 at the American Cheese Society conference in Chicago.

“I never dreamed we’d get the attention we have,” Bernard says. But for someone who rarely ate cheese prior to making it and now can’t get enough, he points out his cheddar’s complex flavours — butterscotch and caramel, with a farmstead taste closer to the rind — with pride. Between industrially produced cheddars and Avonlea, Bernard says, “There’s no comparison at all.”• 

Buying, Storing and Serving Tips

Buy cheese that is cut fresh, not prepackaged. Most cheesemongers will provide a small taste before you commit to buying a particular piece.

To let cheese breathe and develop without drying out, wrap it in aluminum foil, plastic wrap or wax paper.

Serve cheese at room temperature. Take it out of the fridge about an hour before you plan to serve it.

When putting together a cheese plate, include cheeses made from a variety of milk types, with differing textures, rind styles and intensity of tastes. For example, include a sharp, washed-rind sheep’s milk; a pungent, bloomy rind goat’s milk; a strong cow’s milk blue; and a mild, uncooked, pressed cow’s milk cheese.

Quebec: The Big Fromage

In 2008, the Ontario artisanal cheese industry was worth about $20 million, which sounds like a lot until you compare it to Quebec.

With more than 65 small-scale producers and an industry worth upwards of $150 million, Quebec led the artisanal cheese industry in Canada.

There are hundreds of varieties of cheese produced in la belle province, many of which you can sample along La Route des fromages fins du Québec (routedesfromages.com)
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Until then, here a few favourites available in most fromageries:  

• Clandestin

• Sentinelle

• Cendré des prés

• Bleu Bénédictin

• Baluchon

• Chèvre Noir

• Ciel de Charlevoix

• Migneron de Charlevoix

• Pied-De-Vent

• Comtomme

• Magie de Madawaska

• Rassembleu

• Tomme de Grosse-Île