Chef Michael Blackie, Clarmell Farms, Glengarry Fine Cheese, Great Canadian Cheese Festival

Michael Blackie has a ball with feta and elk at Cooks/Curds

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People's Choice at Cooks & Curds. Photo by If Music Be Food of Love, Play On.

A unique feta and elk dish created by Chef Michael Blackie expressly for The Great Canadian Cheese Festival was voted the most popular dish by close to 400 guests at Cooks & Curds Cheese Gala, the social and gastronomic highlight of the Festival.

Chef Blackie, head of cuisine at National Arts Centre in Ottawa, named his creation Clarmell Feta Cheese Pistachio Crusted Sphere with Pulled Lip Sticky Chipotle-Saskatoonberry Elk.

Plainly put, Chef Blackie, using two kinds of rice flour, made a crusted ball with goat feta from Clarmell Farms and served it on a bed of pulled elk.

In reality, a fusion of flavours—rice, pistachio, olives, chipotle, brown sugar, honey, carrots, celery, onion and garlic—powered the dish to People’s Choice honours, with a scattering of Saskatoon berries providing a lovely Canadian finish.

Paired with a fruity, silky St. Laurent 2007 from Prince Edward County’s Harwood Estate Vineyards, Chef Blackie’s creation was a standout among standouts at the Gala in historic Crystal Palace. See the menu below.

Michael Blackie’s name is widely known because of his prestigious position at the National Arts Centre, but what is Clarmell Feta?

Clarmell Farms is a fifth-generation dairy farm on the Rideau River in Manotick, within Ottawa’s city limits, that moved from cow’s milk into goat’s milk two years ago. The Clarmell Farms feta and chevre are made with single-herd milk by Margaret Morris-Peters at nearby Glengarry Cheesemaking and Dairy Supply.

Quantities are limited, so buy it when you can at the farm’s store, open Mondays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 3401 River Road (within Ottawa’s city limits) or at Nicastro’s Food Emporium, 1558 Merivale Road, and Manotick Village Butcher, 2-5556 Manotick Main Street.

Chef Michael Blackie of National Arts Centre, Ottawa.

Chef Blackie was born in Leicestershire, England, and raised in Montreal. Following his apprenticeship, he worked as chef with Jamie Kennedy at the Founders Club, a private food establishment at Toronto’s SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre).

Chef Blackie also held positions as sous-chef at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle; Executive Chef at the Pierre Marques in Mexico; executive sous-chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong, which was voted “Best Hotel in Hong Kong” by Asiamoney Magazine and won both the “Gold List Award” and “Best Hotel in Asia” awards by Condé Nast; and executive chef at the Oberoi in Bali, Indonesia-a five-star hotel that was given the highest overall score in the “Leading Hotels of the World” Quality Awards.

Chef Blackie visited Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau in 2008 as guest chef on the “Canadian Asian Cuisine Tour,” and was a host chef on the “Exposing Canadian Cuisine” tour to Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Zurich, sponsored by Ontario Tourism and Air Canada. In 2007, he won the Silver Medal in the Canadian Culinary Championship in Whistler, B.C., and prior to taking the helm at National Arts Centre two years ago, Chef Blackie was the culinary mastermind behind Perspectives Restaurant at the Brookstreet resort in Kanata, one of Canada’s top restaurants.

Click to view larger image of the Cooks & Curds menu.

The Cooks & Curds Cheese Gala at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival was co-ordinated by the singular Ivy Knight.

Photo of the People’s Choice winner by If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On. Read the review of Cooks & Curds.

Arla Foods, Awards, Black River Cheese, Cheese business, Cow cheese, Cows Creamery, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Fromagerie Blackburn, Fromagerie du Presbytère, Fromagerie La Suisse Normandie, Fromagerie Perron, Glengarry Fine Cheese, Great Canadian Cheese Festival, Gurth Pretty, International Cheese, Le Belle de Jersey, Le Bleu d'Élizabeth, Louis d'Or, Mont Jacob, Natural Pastures Cheese

Louis d’Or: Best of the best in Canadian Cheese Grand Prix

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The smiling-cow tie worn by Grand Champion Jean Morin breaks up TV personalities Anne-Marie Withenshaw and Ben Mulroney at the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Gala of Champions.

It was an unforgettable evening for cheesemaker Jean Morin, his brother, Dominic, and associate cheesemaker Dany Grimard.

Louis d’Or, the extraordinary cheese they make at Fromagerie du Presbytère, was declared Grand Champion—the best of the best—at the 2011 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix last night.

Additionally, in an unprecedented awards sweep, Louis d’Or was named champion in three different categories:

  • Firm cheese
  • Farmstead cheese
  • Organic cheese

On top of that, their fabulous Bleu d’Élizabeth was selected champion in the blue-cheese category!

Clearly, Jean Morin was the happiest and proudest cheese producer in Canada last night as the Gala of Champions unfolded at Palais Royale in Toronto, scene of a lavish awards ceremony cum cheese-tasting organized by Dairy Farmers of Canada, sponsors of the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix.

Dominic Morin, Dany Grimard and Jean Morin are flanked by Phil Bélanger, Grand Prix jury chair, and Ben Mulroney, TV personality and co-MC at the Gala of Champions.

In his acceptance speech, Jean was quick to give credit to his brother, Dominic, who looks after their herd of cows, and to Dany Grimard, who runs the make room in the former rectory that serves as the creamery across the street from their farm in Sainte-Élizabeth-de-Warwick two hours east of Montréal.

Jean and Dominic are fourth-generation dairy farmers who have found amazing success as first-generation cheese producers in a few short years. What’s the secret of their success?

“Happy, healthy cows,” Jean says. “It all starts with the milk, and the care we show the cheese as we make it.”

Appropriately, smiling cows adorned the tie Jean wore to the awards gala.

Quadruple-award-winner Louis dOr from Fromagerie du Presbytère.

Phil Bélanger, chair of the 2011 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Jury and president of the New Brunswick Chapter of La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, had this to say about Louis d’Or:

“The milky richness of this cheese is a tribute to the organic milk with which it is made. The cheese has a smooth texture, warm nutty and floral notes in aroma and taste. Inspired by the traditional cheesemaking know-how from the Jura region, the cheesemaker created an amazing cheese.”

Louis d’Or is truly a magnificent cheese, with fine, complex flavours, eloquently expressed after nine months of ripening. The Louis d’Or cheese gets its name from the Louis d’Or Farm, which produces the organic milk used to make it. The name of the cheese also refers to the French currency of the same name used under the reign of Louis XIII in 1640.

The first opportunity for the public to taste Grand Prix winners in one place—and meet the makers such as Jean Morin—will be at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival on June 4-5 in Picton in Prince Edward County, Ontario’s newest wine region and fastest-growing culinary destination.

At the Festival, cheese expert and author Gurth Pretty, one of the Grand Prix judges, will lead a tutored tasting on cheese of Western Canada. Grand Prix champion Margaret Peters-Morris will conduct a demonstration of cheesemaking at home.

Here is the complete list of 2011 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix winners, with asterisks indicating those already committed to taking part in The Great Canadian Cheese Festival:

Fresh cheese:

Soft cheese with bloomy rind:

Semi-soft cheese:

Washed-rind soft and semi-soft cheese:

Firm cheese:

Swiss-type cheese:

Mozzarella:

Blue cheese:

Flavoured cheese with added non-particulate flavouring:

Flavoured cheese with added particulate solids and flavouring:

Mild cheddar:

Medium cheddar:

Old and extra old cheddar:

Aged Cheddar (1-3 years):

  • Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar, Cows Creamery, Prince Edward Island*

Aged Cheddar (4 years +):

Farmhouse cheese:

Organic cheese:

The Canadian Cheese Grand Prix is a competition sponsored and hosted by Dairy Farmers of Canada, celebrating the high quality and proud tradition of Canadian cheese made from 100% Canadian cow’s milk.

For the 2011 competition, a record-breaking total of 203 cheeses from six provinces was submitted for judging in the competition.

A panel of Canada’s top cheese experts spent two days in Montréal rigorously tasting and evaluating the best cow-milk cheeses this country has to offer as they narrowed the field down to 51 cheeses in 17 categories.

—Georgs Kolesnikovs

Georgs Kolesnikovs, cheesehead-in-chief at CheeseLover.ca, couldn’t believe his ears when Jean Morin mentioned him and the upcoming Great Canadian Cheese Festival in his acceptance remarks.

Celtic Blue, Figaro, Glengarry Fine Cheese, Lankaaster

Margaret Morris: Helping to make cheese across North America

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Margaret Peters-Morris started making cheese commercially under the Glengarry Fine Cheese banner three years ago, but her involvement in cheesemaking across North America goes back almost two decades.

She’s making a name now as an award-winning cheesemaker in her own right but for many years, Margaret was—and still is—the go-to-source for lactic starters and ripening cultures for cheesemakers from California to Quebec. Legend has it that she never sold a culture to a cheese producer without first making the cheese herself in a makeshift make room in her garage.

Glengarry Cheesemaking and Dairy Supply and Glengarry Fine Cheese are located in a new purpose-built facility just north of the village of Lancaster near Cornwall in Eastern Ontario.

Margaret Peters-Morris is native to the area. She was raised on the Peters family’s dairy farm where her mother, Johanna, taught Margaret cheesemaking at a young age. Her interest in dairy farming led her to McGill University in Montreal where she earned a B.Sc. in Agriculture and Food Science. After graduating, she enhanced her cheese knowledge by traveling and studying cheesemaking in Europe. All of that experience has culminated in the products of Glengarry Fine Cheese.

In 2008, the Glengarry creamery was built on a piece of the same land which was farmed by Margaret’s family. Much of the milk used comes from a heard of Holsteins on her brother’s dairy farm across the road from the plant. All of the cheeses are made at that single location ensuring consistent methods and high quality standards of production.

In just a few short years, Glengarry has developed and introduced 10 styles of cow’s milk cheeses and two goat’s milk cheeses.

Lankaaster
Glengarry’s  most popular cheese is the Lankaaster. The unique spelling of the name is a clever spin on the nearby town of Lancaster with an added European flair. The Lankaaster is a hard Gouda-style cheese that is shaped as a loaf to express the fact that it is meant to be sliced and eaten on bread as is the tradition of Dutch farmers.  Glengarry offers three variations of the Lankaaster: infused with chives, Italian spice or cumin. This hard cheese is aged 2 to 4 months and is categorized as mild or medium.

Figaro
For fans of soft cheese, Glengarry offers Figaro which is a soft bloomy-rind cheese that is made in the tradition of Chaource cheese from the Champagne region of France. It is aged 3 weeks and has a mild milky and fresh taste when young but the flavor intensifies when aged to 6 weeks.

Celtic Blue
For blue-cheese lovers, Glengarry has developed Celtic Blue which is a soft creamy blue cheese with delicate veining. The taste is mild and not aggressive and it has a pleasing buttery aroma.

The cow’s milk comes from two local herds at the family-owned VLN Farm and nearby Maple Lane Farm. To ensure quality, Margaret visits the farms on a weekly basis and sometimes assists in milking

Fromage Fraise
If goat’s milk cheese is your thing, then you should try the Fromage fraise which is a goat’s milk cheese made from milk originating from the nearby Clarmell Farms.

The Glengarry family of cheeses have been well received and have earned top honours in cheese competitions. Most recently, in May of 2011, three of Glengarry’s cheeses are finalists in the seventh Canadian Cheese Grand Prix. Lankaaster Traditional Gouda (semi-soft cheese category), Lankaaster Traditional Gouda Aged (firm cheese), and Celtic Blue (blue cheese). The final results of that competition will be announced in two weeks and the winners will be available for tasting in a special presentation at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival.

GLENGARRY FINE CHEESE

5926 County Road 34, Lancaster, Ontario  K0C 1N0   Telephone 613.347.1141, 1.888.816.0903

At the plant, Glengarry operates a retail store open seven days a week. It also serves as an education and interpretation center. In addition to selling the cheeses made on the premises, the store offers maple syrups, jams and other specialty food items.

Glengarry Fine Cheese will be a participating cheesemaker at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival taking place June 4-5 at Crystal Palace in Picton, in the heart of Prince Edward County, Ontario’s fastest-growing culinary destination and Canada’s newest VQA wine region.

—Drew Gall

Drew Gall earned his way through university working on a dairy farm, studied dairy science, switched to forestry and ended up owning a specialty fabrication company. He indulges his true passion by blogging about cheese as the Canada Cheese Man.

Glengarry Fine Cheese, Video

Video: Cheesemaking at Glengarry Fine Cheese

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IORWsvpb2ME&w=475&h=297]

Welcome to Video Wednesday at CheeseLover.ca!

Today’s video clip shows the complete cheese-production process—from cows to store display—at Glengarry Fine Cheese in Lancaster, Ontario, where Margaret Peters-Morris is the master cheesemaker, and the milk comes from the family dairy farm across the road. It’s a silent video, so follow along via the on-screen text.

Dairy Farmers of Canada, Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser, Glengarry Fine Cheese, Poplar Grove Cheese

Chowing down on dairy with food bloggers

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Canadian food bloggers at a roundtable hosted by Dairy Farmers of Canada at St. Lawrence Market Kitchen in Toronto.

What a wonderful way to while away an evening: Tasting cheese and cheese dishes, listening to the brightest and best in Canadian food bloggers gathered in a roundtable by Dairy Farmers of Canada.

I love cheese and I blog about it for fun, but these people are really good at what they do. In fact, I’ve just whiled away the entire morning poking around the 11 blogs and sites represented at the gathering at St. Lawrence Market Kitchen in Toronto. Here they are:

Also at the roundtable was Lois Abraham, food editor at Canadian Press, and a bevvy of communications and marketing types from the Montreal office of Dairy Farmers of Canada. DFC used the occasion to obtain input and feedback from the bloggers on how better to inform Canadians about “100% Canadian Milk” in all its many uses.

A mouth-watering concoction of chocolate, cheese and strawberries in a mousse.

Chef Emily Richards, a recipe developer at DFC, created four dishes, all employing cheese made with that 100% Canadian milk:

  • Roasted Pepper and Parsnip Soup
  • Ricotta Meatball on Polenta
  • Roasted Fennel with Prosciutto Breadcrumbs
  • Chocolate Cheese and Strawberry Mousse Duet.

Figaro, Raclette, a fig bar, Tiger Blue and—for those who don't like cheese naked—artisan bread

Anne-Marie Shubin, a culinary instructor at Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts, George Brown College, and an instructor at Cheese Education Guild, selected the B.C. wines for the meal and three outstanding Canadian cheeses:

As I said, a most pleasant way to spend a January evening—with the bonus being a gift bag containing more Figaro, more Raclette and more Tiger Blue to take home.

—Georgs Kolesnikovs

Georgs Kolesnikovs is Cheesehead-In-Chief at CheeseLover.ca and organizer of The Great Canadian Cheese Festival. Dairy Farmers of Canada is Diamond Sponsor of the Festival which is how he garnered an invite to the blogger roundtable.

Andy Shay, Awards, Celtic Blue, Empire Cheese & Butter Co-op, Foin D’Odeur, Fromagerie du Presbytère, Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser, Fromagerie La Moutonnière, Glengarry Fine Cheese, Guelph Food Technology Centre, Julia Rogers, La fromagerie Atwater, Le Bleu d'Élizabeth, Louis d'Or, Monforte Dairy, Roquefort, University of Guelph

Outstanding cheese bites of 2010

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Deservedly, Vacherin Mont d'Or sits front and center at a cheese tasting also featuring Fritz Kaiser's Miranda, a seven-year-old Empire Cheddar and Celtic Blue from Glengarry Fine Cheese.

There’s nothing quite as exciting as tasting an outstanding cheese for the first time: Whoa! What aroma! What flavour! What texture! Where have you been all my life?

We bring the curtain down on 2010 with friends in fromage recalling the memorable cheeses that crossed their palates this year.

Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar, Cows Creamery:
Lots of typical aged Cheddar flavour with sweet and spicy notes. Very firm and dry.
—Art Hill, professor, Dairy Science and Cheese Technology, University of Guelph

Louis d’Or, Fromagerie du Presbytère:
An 18-month-old, 40kg organic raw milk pressed cheese that won the Gold Medal at 2010 Quebec Caseus Awards. Federally licensed.
—Alain Besré, Fromagerie Atwater, often called the godfather of the Québec artisan cheese movement

Brebichon, Les Fromages du Verger:
A young 350g farmstead sheep milk cheese made with apple juice added to the curd and washed with apple juice from their own orchard. First prize in washed rind cheese category at 2010 Quebec Caseus Awards. Provincially licensed.
—Alain Besré, Fromagerie Atwater, often called the godfather of the Québec artisan cheese movement

Jersey Blue, Städtlichäsi Lichtensteig:
A 100% Jersey cow’s milk cheese from Switzerland made by Willi Schmid. So beautiful you almost don’t want to eat it, just gaze at it. But, mamma mia, when it gets into your mouth! What a cheese, WHAT a cheese! —Russell Gammon, Executive Secretary, Jersey Canada

Cone de Port Aubry and Vacherin de Savoie, Maison Mons – Fromager Affineur:
Two treasures from maître affineur Hervé Mons.
—Julia Rogers, Cheese Educator, Cheese Culture

Le Foin d’Odeur, La Moutonniere:
Soft surface-ripened sheep’s milk, sweet, mushroomy and herbacious. When ripe, like licking buttered popcorn from your fingertips!
—Vanessa Simmons, Cheese Sommelier, Savvy Company

Monforte Dairy Cottage Cheese:
Georgous small cream colour curds that play on your tongue like caviar and are so fresh they sqeek lightly on your teeth.
—Andy Shay, Cheese Consultant

At CheeseLover.ca, the most memorable moment in cheese of 2010 came when we first tasted Vacherin Mont d’Or, a singular seasonal cheese of Switzerland that delivers an amazing explosion of aroma and taste—so rich, so gooey.

Other taste hits:

Miranda, Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser:
Cheesemaker Fritz Kaiser, who kick-started the Quebec artisanal cheese movement in the 1980s, says Miranda is one of the many cheeses he produces that he’s most proud of. That says a lot, when one considers he makes Le Douanier, Port Royal, Raclette, La Soeur Angele, Le Saint Paulin, among others. We especially liked the rustic flavours of Miranda.

Celtic Blue, Glengarry Fine Cheese, and Bleu d’Elizabeth, Fromagerie du Presbytère: Two very different blue cheeses that demonstrate how far blues made in Canada have come since the days Roquefort ruled. Three cheers for Blue Canada!

Empire Cheddar, 7-year, Empire Butter & Cheese:
There are so many fine older cheddars made in Canada, but Empire’s oldest offering stands out in memories of cheese tasted during 2010.

—Georgs Kolesnikovs, Cheese-head-in-chief at CheeseLover.ca, wonders what outstanding cheeses he’ll encounter in the New Year.

Agropur, Alexis De Portneuf, Allegretto, Amalgamated Dairies, Arla Foods, Awards, Bedda Fedda, Black River Cheese, Bleubry, Blossom, Bocconcini, Bonnie & Floyd, Bothwell Cheese, Burrata, Cape Vessey, Celtic Blue, Cendre de Lune, Chevrita, Empire Cheese & Butter Co-op, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese, Finica Food Specialties, Fondue Prestigio, Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage, Fromagerie Au Grés des Champs, Fromagerie Blackburn, Fromagerie Eco Delices, Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser, Fromagerie Isle-aux-Grues, Fromagerie Lemaire, Fromages CDA, Glengarry Fen, Glengarry Fine Cheese, International Cheese, La Roche Noire, La Vache à Maillotte, Lady Laurier d'Arthabaska, Lankaaster, Le Cabouron, Le Cendre, Le Paillot de Chevre, Lindsay Bandage Cheddar, Mamirolle, Maple Dale Cheese, Mariposa Dairy, Monforte Dairy, Mont Gleason, Mont Jacob, Nouvelle France, Oka, Operetta, Parmalat, Quality Cheese, Raclette du Village, Rondoux Chevre, St. Albert Cheese Co-op, St. Honoré, Toscano, Triple Crème du Village, Wishing Tree

Best cheeses of the “British Empire” in 2010

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Lori Legacey, cheesemaker at Mariposa Dairy, has a sniff of a 19-kilo wheel of cheddar. The dairy's Lindsay Bandage Cheddar beat out 40 other goat-milk cheeses in the British Empire Cheese Competition. Photo by Lisa Gervais/The Lindsay Post.

Here are the results of the cheese competition at the 83rd annual British Empire Cheese Show organized by Central Ontario Cheesemakers Association:

The Alexis De Portneuf division of cheese giant Saputo was crowned Grand Champion.

Quebec cheesemaker Fromagerie La Vache à Maillotte was named Reserve Champion.

Fifth Town Artisan Cheese, an artisan cheesemaker  in Ontario’s Prince Edward County, was honoured with the Finica Food Specialties Award.

In the cheddar class, Parmalat Canada was recognized as Grand Champion. Reserve Champion honours went to Fromagerie Isle-aux-Grues.

Glengarry Fine Cheese, after an excellent showing at Royal Winter Fair, picked up several more awards at British Empire, as reported in Eastern Ontario AgriNews.

Here are the top three in each class of the competition:

ARTISAN

Goat Milk Cheese

  1. Lindsay Bandage Cheddar, Mariposa Dairy (Finica Food Specialties)
  2. Cape Vessey, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese
  3. Operetta, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese

Sheep Milk Cheese

  1. Bonnie and Floyd, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese
  2. Toscano, Monforte Dairy
  3. Wishing Tree, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese

SPECIALTY CLASS

Hard Cheese Type

  1. Glengarry Fen, Glengarry Fine Cheese
  2. Lankaaster Aged, Glengarry Fine Cheese
  3. Romano, St. Albert Cheese Co-Operative

Firm Cheese Type

  1. Lankaaster Medium, Glengarry Fine Cheese
  2. Nouvelle France, Agropur
  3. Fondue Prestigio, Agropur

Swiss Cheese Type

  1. Artisan, Agropur
  2. Swiss, Fromagerie Lemaire
  3. Mont Gleason, Saputo/Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage

Semi-Firm Cheese Type

  1. Raclette du Village, Saputo/Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage
  2. Le Cabouron, Fromagerie Blackburn (Fromages CDA)
  3. Le Cendre, Saputo/Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage

Fresh Cheese Type

  1. Mascarpone, Arla Foods
  2. Ricotta, Quality Cheese
  3. Prestigio Ricotta, Agropur

Soft Rind Cheese Type

  1. St. Honoré, Saputo/Alexis De Portneuf
  2. Triple Crème du Village, Saputo/Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage
  3. Cendre de Lune, Saputo/Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage

Smear Ripened Type

  1. Mamirolle, Fromagerie Eco Delices (Fromages CDA)
  2. Mont Jacob, Fromagerie Blackburn (Fromages CDA)
  3. Raclette, Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser (Fromages CDA)

Flavoured Soft Type

  1. Lady Laurier d’Arthabaska, Saputo/Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage
  2. Raclette Oka, Agropur
  3. Chevalier Tomato Basil, Agropur

Flavoured Firm Type

  1. Lankaaster Chive, Glengarry Fine Cheese
  2. Smoked Cheddar, Parmalat Canada
  3. Lankaaster Cumin, Glengarry Fine Cheese

Blue Veined Cheese

  1. Celtic Blue, Glengarry Fine Cheese
  2. La Roche Noire, Saputo/Alexis De Portneuf
  3. Bleubry, Saputo/Alexis De Portneuf

American Style Type

  1. Brick, St. Albert Cheese Co-Operative
  2. Monterey Jack, Bothwell Cheese
  3. American Mozzarella, Parmalat Canada

Pasta Filata Type

  1. Bocconcini, International Cheese
  2. Burrata, Quality Cheese
  3. Fresh Mozzarella, Quality Cheese

Goat Milk Cheese

  1. Le Paillot de Chevre, Saputo/Alexis De Portneuf
  2. Rondoux Chevre, Agropur
  3. Chevrita, Agropur

Sheep Milk Cheese

  1. Allegretto, Fromagerie La Vache a Maillotte
  2. Bedda Fedda, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese
  3. Blossom, Monforte Dairy

Process Cheese

  1. Spreadable Cream Cheese Product, Parmalat Canada
  2. Spreadable Cream Cheese Product, Parmalat Canada
  3. Spreadable Cream Cheese Product, Parmalat Canada

CHEDDAR

Mild White or Coloured Cheddar – Less than 2 months of age, 40 lb. or more

  1. Parmalat Canada
  2. Empire Cheese & Butter Coop
  3. Black River Cheese

Medium White Cheddar – 3 to 6 months of age, 40 lb. or more

  1. Parmalat Canada
  2. Fromagerie Isle-aux-Grues
  3. Amalgamated Dairies

Medium Coloured Cheddar – 3 to 6 months of age, 40 lb. or more

  1. Parmalat Canada
  2. Bothwell Cheese
  3. Empire Cheese & Butter Co-op

Marbled Cheddar – any age, 40 lb. or more

  1. Bothwell Cheese
  2. Empire Cheese & Butter Co-Op
  3. St. Albert Cheese Co-Operative

Mature Cheddar – 12 to 15 months of age, 40 lb. or more

  1. Parmalat Canada
  2. St. Albert Cheese
  3. Fromagerie Isle-aux-Grues

Extra Mature Cheddar – 24 to 36 months of age, 40 lb. or more

  1. Parmalat Canada
  2. Maple Dale Cheese
  3. St. Albert Cheese Co-Operative

Agropur, Awards, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese, Fromagerie Perron, Glengarry Fine Cheese, Parmalat, Quality Cheese

Oka, Woolwich and Perron judged Grand Champions at the Royal

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Fromagerie Perron produces the 2010 Grand and Reserve Champions of cheddars in Canada.

Here are the winners in the cheese competition at Royal Agricultural Winter Fair which runs in Toronto this week until Sunday.

Agropur and Parmalat, Canada’s two giant cheese producers, dominated the results with six wins apiece but relatively tiny Fifth Town Artisan Cheese and Glengarry Fine Cheese, with five and three wins each, garnered more than their share of honours.

Fromagerie Perron dominated the cheddar cheese judging. Quality Cheese had four wins including a first for its new Water Buffalo Mozzarella.

VARIETY CHEESE – 95 entries – Judges: Thierry Martin and Jean-Jacques Turgeon

GRAND CHAMPION: OKA L’Artisan ~ Agropur Fine Cheese

RESERVE CHAMPION: Cendré De Lune ~ Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage

HARD – PARMESAN, GANA, ROMANO, ETC ~ 1st – Extra Aged Lankaaster ~ Glengarry Fine Cheese ~ Wilma Klein Swormink, Marie-Benedicte Pretty, Margaret Peters-Morris, cheesemakers

Giuseppe Garsito: Buratta and Buffalo Mozzarella cheesemaker at Quality Cheese.

PASTA, FILATA – BOCCONCHINI, MOZZARELLA, CACIOCAVALLO, PROVOLONE, CACIOTTA ~ 1st – Water Buffalo Mozzarella ~ Quality Cheese

FIRM – BRICK, COLBY, ETC ~ 1st – Black Diamond American Mozzarella~ Parmalat Canada

Glengarry cheesemakers: Marie-Benedicte Pretty, Wilma Klein Swormink, Margaret Peters-Morris. Photo by André Dumont/AGRICOM

INTERIOR RIPENED – EDAM, GOUDA, ASIAGO ~ 1st – Lankaaster Medium~ Glengarry Fine Cheese ~ Wilma Klein Swormink, Marie-Benedicte Pretty, Margaret Peters-Morris, cheesemakers

SURFACE RIPENED – FONTINA, OKA, MUNSTER, ST PAULIN ~ 1st – Champfleury ~ Agropur Fine Cheese

MOLD RIPENED – BRIE, CAMEMBERT ~ 1st – Cendré De Lune ~ Fromagerie 1860 DuVillage

Ema Tema: Ricotta cheesemaker at Quality Cheese.
Marcelo Lozano: Ricotta cheesemaker at Quality Cheese.

UNFLAVOURED FRESH CHEESE ~ 1st – Ricotta Cheese ~ Quality Cheese

FLAVOURED FRESH CHEESE ~ 1st – Délicreme Ail et Fines Herbes~ Agropur Fine Cheese

BLUE VEINED CHEESE ~ 1st – La Roche Noire ~ La Fromagerie Alexis de Portneuf

SWISS OR EMENTHAL CHEESE ~ 1st – OKA L`Artisan ~ Agropur Fine Cheese

FLAVOURED CHEESE ~ 1st – Flavoured Lankaaster Chive ~ Glengarry Fine Cheese ~ Wilma Klein Swormink, Marie-Benedicte Pretty, Margaret Peters-Morris, cheesemakers

Dipesh (Dan) Patel: Buratta and Buffalo Mozzarella cheesemaker at Quality Cheese.

OPEN CLASS ~ 1st – Bella Casara -Burrata Cheese ~ Quality Cheese

ANY CHEESE MADE WITH SHEEP’S MILK ~ 1st – Bonnie & Floyd ~ Fifth Town Artisan Cheese ~ Stephanie Diamant, cheesemaker

FETA _ 1st – 3 kg Black Diamond Feta in brine ~ Black Diamond

GOAT CHEESE – 29 entries – Judges: Thierry Martin and Jean-Jacques Turgeon

GRAND CHAMPION: Woolwich Dairy Elite Roasted Red Pepper ~ Woolwich Dairy

RESERVE CHAMPION: Premium Goat Milk Cheddar ~ Fifth Town Artisan Cheese ~ Stephanie Diamant, cheesemaker

HARD – PARMESAN, GRANA, ROMANO ~ 1st – Charlton ~ Thornloe Cheese

FIRM – CHEDDAR, MOZZARELLA, CAPRANO ~ 1st – Premium Goat Milk Cheddar ~ Fifth Town Artisan Cheese ~ Stephanie Diamant, cheesemaker

Fil Dutra is a member of the award-winning cheesemaker team at Woolwich Dairy.

INTERIOR RIPENED – GOUDA, FRIULAN, MANCHEGO, ETC ~ 1st – Woolwich Dairy Goats Milk Feta ~ Woolwich Dairy

SURFACE RIPENED – OKA STYLE, ST PAULIN, TILST, ETC ~ 1st – Cape Vessey ~ Fifth Town Artisan Cheese ~ Stephanie Diamant, cheesemaker

MOLD RIPENED – BRIE, CAMEMBERT, TRE FRATELLO, ETC ~ 1st – Chevrita ~ Agropur Fine Cheese

UNFLAVOURED FRESH-CREAM CHEESE, GHAGE, QUARK, ETC ~ 1st – River’s Edge Chevre ~ River’s Edge Goat Dairy

FLAVOURED FRESH CHEESE ~ 1st – Woolwich Dairy Elite Roasted Red Pepper ~ Woolwich Dairy

Thornloe cheesemakers: Laurent Jubinville (left), John Leveille and Denis Jubinville.

BLUE VEINED CHEESE ~ 1st – Harley Goat Blue Cheese ~ Thornloe Cheese

FLAVOURED CHEESE – SMOKED, JALAPENO ~ 1st – Applewood Smoked Premium Goat Milk Cheddar ~ Fifth Town Artisan Cheese ~ Stephanie Diamant, cheesemaker

INNOVATION – MIXED MILK CHEESE ~ 1st – Doucerel ~ Agropur Fine Cheese

CHEDDAR CHEESE – 36 entries – Judges: Norm Matte and Gilles Sabourin

GRAND CHAMPION: Doyen ~ Fromagerie Perron ~ Stephane Marchand, cheesemaker.

RESERVE CHAMPION: 120th Anniversary Reserve ~ Fromagerie Perron ~ Stephane Marchand, cheesemaker.

THE SILVER TRIER AWARD/Highest aggregate score for cheddar cheese: Parmalat Canada

EXTRA MATURE CHEDDAR 24 MONTHS OR LONGER ~ 1st – Perron Doyen ~ Fromagerie Perron ~ Stephane Marchand, cheesemaker.

MATURE CHEDDAR – 12-24 MONTHS ~ 1st – 120th Anniversary Reserve ~ Fromagerie Perron ~ Stephane Marchand, cheesemaker.

MEDIUM CHEDDAR – 6-8 MONTHS ~ 1st – Medium Cheddar ~ Fromagerie Perron ~ Stephane Marchand, cheesemaker.

MILD CHEDDAR – 2-4 MONTHS ~ 1st – Balderson Mild ~ Parmalat Canada

EXTRA MILD CHEDDAR – 1-2 MONTHS ~ 1st – Balderson Extra Mild ~ Parmalat Canada

MARBLE CHEDDAR – ANY AGE ~ 1st – Balderson Marble ~ Parmalat Canada

STILTON SHAPED CHEDDAR – TWO COLOURED OR WHITE ~ 1st – Black Diamond Cheddar ~ Parmalat Canada

Complete results are posted at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair website.

Celtic Blue, Cheddar, Comfort Cream Camembert, Culinarium, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese, Glengarry Fine Cheese, Lemon Fetish, Maple Dale Cheese, Upper Canada Cheese, VQA Ontario

Ontario fetish: Sampling cheese and sipping wine

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Spending an evening tasting and discussing Ontario artisan cheeses under the guidance of a passionate professional is a wonderfully indulgent experience. Adding expertly paired VQA Ontario wines to the mix only serves to increase the decadence of the experience.

Sherinne Quartermaine talks wine at Culinarium.

Culinarium hosted an evening of wine and cheese tasting last week that adhered to the Toronto gourmet food shop’s mantra “All Ontario, all the time.” Kathleen Mackintosh, founder of Culinarium, chose the evening’s cheeses, and she guided the eight eager students in attendance through the process of cheese tasting.

The Wine Rack provided the VQA wines, and Sherinne Quartermaine, the store’s manager, selected a variety of Ontario wines to pair with Kathleen’s four cheese choices. Both Kathleen and Sherinne gave their students general guidelines for tasting cheese and wine, but ultimately, they agreed tasting is a personal experience. They encouraged everyone to approach tasting in whatever way worked for them.

We started each pairing by tasting the cheese on its own, then the wine on its own. We discussed the flavours and characteristics of each, and then we tasted the cheese and wine together. First, we had a bite of the cheese followed by a sip of the wine, and we noted the ways in which the flavours changed, became more apparent, or were lost with the pairing. We then reversed the steps, tasting the wine first and then the cheese.

The first cheese we sampled was a sheep’s milk cheese produced by Fifth Town Artisan Cheese in Prince Edward County near Picton, Ontario. The cheese, Lemon Fetish, was a firm, dry, feta-style cheese with citrus flavours.

Lemon Fetish was paired with Strut Sauvignon Blanc. When the cheese was sampled first, followed by the wine, the sauvignon blanc mellowed out the strong citrus flavours in the cheese, while the saltiness of Lemon Fetish made the Strut wine taste sweeter.

Kathleen Mackintosh talks cheese.

The tasting group as a whole agreed that when the approach was reversed, and the wine was followed by the cheese, the subtleties of the wine were lost to the strong flavours of the cheese. This was the case for most of the combinations sampled that evening, with the exception of the second pairing, which featured a bold Inniskillin Two Vineyards Merlot. The merlot was paired with a sharp 5-year cheddar produced by Maple Dale Cheese. The two paired nicely as neither overpowered the other.

During the evening’s tasting, the passion of both Kathleen and Sherinne for the craft of Ontario’s cheese and wine producers became apparent. Kathleen explained the human quality of artisan cheesemaking, describing it as a “hand-touched” and “human-tended” craft that required patience and care on the part of the cheesemaker.

Kathleen insisted this handcraft deserved the respect of the taster.

She argued that a taster should never ignore the rind of a cheese. As the only part of the cheese the maker can really affect, Kathleen believes we should taste the rind of every cheese we buy, out of respect for the cheesemaker.

We all gamely tried the rind of the Comfort Cream Camembert made by Upper Canada Cheese in the Niagara Peninsula. The bloomy rind added another dimension to the nutty flavours of this cheese. It was paired with a Jackson Triggs Reserve Cuvee Close, and they worked well together. The cheese made the wine taste creamier and sweeter.

Sherinne told the group of tasters the price of a wine is often a reflection of the care a grape receives. For that reason, she explained, ice wines are often pricier than other varieties. She described the labour of ice-wine making, in which pickers hand pick the frozen grapes in the middle of the night, in temperatures below minus 8 degrees Celsius.

In the case of Inniskillin Vidal Ice Wine, the hard work certainly paid off. The 2006 vintage we sampled is a multiple gold medal winner, and an older vintage of Inniskillin’s Vidal ice wine was served to President Barack Obama at his Nobel Peace Prize Dinner.

The ice wine was paired with Glengarry Fine Cheese’s Celtic Blue. The two paired nicely. While on its own, the ice wine was a bit syrupy and sweet for my liking (with a sugar code of 24), when paired with the sharp, tangy blue, I appreciated the sweetness of the ice wine.

Fifth Town's Lemon Fetish.

When our four pairings had all gone down, and our taste buds were thoroughly satisfied, the night began to wind down. My tasting companion and I lingered in the store a bit longer, admiring the cheese selection. We finally took advantage of the 10 per cent discount offered to the guests, and picked up Fifth Town’s Lemon Fetish.

Perhaps we will be inspired to experiment with some wine pairings of our own.

—Phoebe Powell

A journalism graduate and budding turophile, Phoebe Powell last wrote for CheeseLover.ca about Monforte Dairy morphing into an art gallery.

Cheese trail, Chevre Noir, Fleur-en-Lait, Glengarry Fen, Glengarry Fine Cheese, St. Albert Cheese Co-op

Good cheese hunting: Day 11, kicking back in Montreal

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Lest you think we’re slacking off in the good cheese hunt, here’s a look at what’s in our portable cheese bin at the moment, clockwise starting from the upper left:

For the next few days, as we get down to serious sight-seeing in Montreal, we might drop out of sight as far as the blog goes. Besides, we need to munch our way through the cheeses shown above. After all, the cheese hunt will start again with a bang when we hit Warwick on Thursday for Festival des Fromages de Warwick.

Tonight, it was bistro night in our suite at Holiday Inn Express in downtown Montreal. A few mouthfuls of a rich smoked salmon, a chunk of Balderson 3-year, a chunk of the great Celtic Blue, and a chunk of unsalted butter with the fresh baguette. The vin rouge was a no-name from France that we found at the neighbourhood IGA for under $10.

A final note: During a visit to Dairy Farmers of Canada, it was most encouraging to learn how DFC promotes Canadian cheese in so many different ways.