A few weeks ago I hopefully introduced you to some new favourites Canadian cheeses.
All of the cheese mongers at les amis voted on our current favourites, and I described the runners up the first week. In week two, I gave you a run down on numbers ten through three, and now I will tell you our top three favourites of the moment. Things and opinions change frequently around here, and I’m sure if I asked everyone again in six months I would get a lot of different answers but for this moment in time, these are the Canadian cheeses that we are enjoying the most.
#3: 5 Brothers from Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese in Woodstock, Ontario. This is a great flavourful firm cheese modelled after Swiss Appenzeller. It has some of the earthy notes that harken back to its inspiration, but it definitely has it’s own unique flavour profile. It’s lovely for us to have some great Ontario cheeses in the showcase, as it hasn’t always been that easy in the past. 5 Brothers has a lovely nutty first taste, with a slightly sharp, slightly milky and slightly woodsy finish. This cheese is great on a platter paired with some not too sweet chutney or preserve, and some dried fruit or salami.
# 2: Grey Owl No surprise to me, the second place winner is Grey Owl. I often describe this as our most popular Canadian cheese, and I have been known to call it the best cheese made in Canada, too. This amazing goat cheese made by Fromagerie le Détour in Québec, has a fine layer of ash covering it and a gorgeous, fascinating wrinkly rind. The taste is lactic and rich, and the intensity of the goat flavour is really dependent on how aged the cheese is. I find when the wheels are younger they have a firmer paste and a less goaty quality, but when the cheese is more ripened and runny , the goat factor increases quite a bit. Try this with a seed cracker, and a fruit jelly with a little acid, like crab apple or quince. If you’ve never tried this cheese you really should :)
#1: Zacharie Cloutier The official winner of our unofficial poll is Zacharie Cloutier! This is a unique cheese in Canada, if only for the fact that it is a firm cheese made from sheep’s’ milk. It’s not the only one, but sheep’s milk cheese in general isn’t a large category in our fair country. I love sheep’s milk cheeses, so I’m very happy that this was our winner.
Zacharie Cloutier is made by La Nouvelle France Fromagerie in Racine, Québec. They are a relatively small cheese maker and they raise the sheep and make the cheese on site. Zacharie has a natural crust and a beautiful ivory white paste. The flavour has some of the lovely fruity taste typical of sheep’s milk cheese, but it also has a nutty flavour reminiscent of a mountain cheese. The overall flavour is subtle rather than bold, but with a great lasting finish.
Serve this beauty with anything, but my personal choice would be on its own, or with only one other cheese so you don’t drown out the flavour. I would pick an aromatic white wine to have with it, but it is very wine friendly.
Another good note from La Nouvelle France is they also make sheep’s milk yogurt, which we get every 3 or 4 weeks. This is a very special product if you are a sheep’s milk lover.
Well now you have our top 20 Canadian cheeses of the moment. I hope it gives you some inspiration to try a new gem from one of our cheese making neighbours.