Tonight’s the night! The winners in the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix will be announced at a Gala of Champions in Toronto this evening.
I’m aiming to provide a live news feed on Twitter starting soon after six o’clock and continuing until the Grand Champion is named.
The reason there’s so much excitement around here about the Grand Prix is that the winners will presented at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival upcoming on June 4-5. It will be the first opportunity for cheese lovers to taste the winning cheeses in one place at one time.
During the Artisan Cheese & Fine Food Fair on Festival Sunday (June 5), Deborah Levy of Dairy Farmers of Canada will lead a tutored tasting of the winners. They’ll also be featured the Cooks & Curds Cheese Gala on Festival Saturday (June 4).
Former Susur Lee Sous-Chef Dustin Gallagher’s playful tussle with a large block of fromage in Episode 1 gave Top Chef Canada viewers a heads-up on a key ingredient in upcoming Episode 2: Canadian cheese!
Titled “Cheese, Glorious, Cheese” and airing on Food Network Canada on Monday at 9 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT, the chefs battle with each other in typical Top Chef style with first a quickfire and then an elimination based on creating appetizing cheese dishes. It’ll be quite a challenge for some, particularly Gordon Ramsay protégé Chef Dale Mackay who admits to not having much experience cooking with cheese, as well as Calgary Chef and Sommelier Rebekah Pearse who calls the challenge “a little tough.”
The chefs are given a range of Canadian cheeses from coast to coast. Will they use gouda from Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm in B.C., Alberta’s Sylvan Star Cheese, or Ontario’s Thunder Oak Cheese Farm? Cheddar from Quebec’s Perron or Wilton’s Cheese Factory in Ontario? Perhaps they will create from a hodgepodge of cheeses? Selecting the wedges they know, the culinary contenders craft distinct plates for a cocktail party of 50 guests who help the judges in their selection of the second chef to be asked to pack his or her knives and go.
The most watched original premiere in Food Network Canada’s history, Top Chef Canada continues to vigorously protect its trade secret: the element of surprise. The cheeses procured and showcased? Guarded jealously. News of a guest judge from the cheese industry? Mum’s the word. We’ll have to watch Monday’s episode to find out!
—Gabi Gopie-Tree
Gabi has a law and politics background but her passion for food, wine, and entertainment developed from nearly a decade in Europe and the U.K. where, she discovered, many still find the time to enjoy the finer things in life. Gabi blogs about food, wine, music, travel, and life at poshbirdgabi.wordpress.com
Editor’s note:
It’s amazing how tightly shrouded in secrecy the producers of Top Chef Canada like to keep their show before it airs. Witness the scant information CheeserLover.ca was able to obtain for the above report.
No mention of even the basics, such as Dairy Farmers of Canada being the sponsor of the episode and provider of the cheese.
Even cheese and wine expert Julia Rogers, a good friend and supporter and presenter at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival we’re organized, wouldn’t say boo when we emailed for confirmation about her serving as the guest judge on Episode 2.
“Sorry, but I signed a confidentiality agreement as thick and detailed as could be. I will not be able to comment on anything you ask prior to the show airing, except to say that the challenge involved Canadian cheese,” she emailed.
But, if the truth were known, Julia did post this tidbit on her Facebook page:
Top Chef Canada spoiler alert . . . On Monday, watch me judge contestants’ cocktail party cheese offerings with as much integrity as possible, while wearing false eyelashes and losing the microphone down my dress.
From other sources, we learned:
Monday’s episode of Top Chef Canada on the Food Network will be all about CHEESE! The episode will be the main ingredient in the two key challenges in the show and will be featured prominently throughout the show.
The first challenge of the show is the “Quickfire Challenge” that measures specific skill sets of the competitors. For the challenge, a table full of cheeses made from 100% Canadian Milk will be unveiled to the competitors and they will be asked to create a dish using as many cheeses as they wish and then describe the dish and the inspiration behind it.
In the “Elimination Challenge,” the competitors will be divided into teams and will be given a specific Canadian Cheese and a meal course to work within. The chefs must then create a dish around their kind of cheese that works within the corresponding course in the dinner service—which is at an actual function. This challenge will showcase the versatility and variety of Canadian cheese.
We’ve posted the video clip that is posted on the Food Network Canada website at the top of this post. Those who are unable to watch the show Monday night will be able to view it on the website Tuesday.
—Georgs Kolesnikovs
Georgs Kolesnikovs is Cheesehead-in-Chief at CheeseLover.ca. He’ll have a tape in the old VCR on Monday night as he and SO will be at the Drake Hotel taking in the Battle of Paté organized by Ivy Knight as part of her 86’d series of fun food events.
A multi-day, multi-faceted event like The Great Canadian Cheese Festival relies on many volunteers to make it all happen.
We’re issuing a call to culinary students from nearby colleges and people in the community to join the effort. We’ll need a wide range of skills and experience: registration staff, parking attendants, servers, hosts, three cheese-prep teams for the tutored tastings, eight culinary teams to work with chefs, set-up and tear-down crews, groundskeepers and many others.
We need more than 50 worker bees but we’ll also need a handful of take-charge people to lead teams of volunteers.
It will be work and it will be fun—but you won’t go home empty-handed.
The range of benefits for volunteers includes colourful Cheese Festival T-shirts, admission to Festival functions and lunch on Saturday according to hours worked, admission to the Cheese Fair & Artisan Food Market on Sunday and the opportunity to taste more than 100 Canadian artisan and farmstead cheeses as well as sampling artisan food and, for those of the age of majority, fine wine and craft beer. PLUS: Discounted admission to the many attractions listed at Attractions Ontario.
If you have any questions about volunteering, please email info@cheesefestival.ca.
—Georgs Kolesnikovs
Georgs Kolesnikovs is founder and director of The Great Canadian Cheese Festival, the first time ever in Canada when there is one event that cheese lovers can attend to learn, talk, taste—and purchase—Canadian cheeses from coast to coast. More than 100 artisan and farmstead cheeses represented, made from Canadian cow, goat, sheep and buffalo milk.
Fifth Town: An award-winning creamery for award-winning cheese.
Although Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company has been producing cheese for less than three years, it has built a solid reputation for producing fine, hand-made cheeses using fresh, locally produced goat, sheep and cow’s milk, as well as for a commitment to be environmentally and socially responsible.
Fifth Town has been the recipient of more than 20 awards since opening in July 2008, including several from the American Cheese Society.
You’ll find the sustainable facility in Ontario’s Prince Edward County, located on 20 acres of agricultural land overlooking the St. Lawrence River. To cool, heat and power the dairy processing, retail and educational facility, geo-thermal technology and two renewable sources of energy—wind and solar—are used. The advanced sustainable design won Fifth Town Platinum LEED accreditation in February 2009, making it the first dairy in North America to receive platinum status.
Petra Kassun-Mutch, founder and president of Fifth Town, and Stephanie Diamant, master cheesemaker, didn’t always make cheese.
Petra Kassun-Mutch left her career as a publishing executive in Toronto to pursue her passion for artisan cheesemaking, traveling and studying widely. When it was time build her creamery, she selected the County on account of family connections there and familiarity with the land and resources at hand. Paired with the County’s reputation for being an emerging culinary destination, it seemed a natural fit.
Stephanie Diamant, on the other hand, has a background in medical research and a degree in agriculture. She spent 10 years operating a dairy-sheep farm near Georgian Bay where she began making cheese in her small kitchen. From there, Stephanie decided to head for England where she travelled visiting dairy sheep farms, and completed an apprenticeship. In 2008, an opportunity presented itself and she joined Petra in her new venture.
Petra Kassun-Mutch amid goats that produce milk for Fifth Town.
Currently producing a variety of fresh, washed-rind, soft ripened, hard and limited edition cheeses, Fifth Town gets fresh milk from six local, environmentally conscious, partnering farms. Frozen milk or curd is never used in their cheese making, and the milk is hormone and antibiotic free. No modified milk ingredients are used.
“We are not receiving our milk from a co-op,” Kassun-Mutch explains. “We are actually picking it up ourselves. We go out each day to selected farms, bringing it (milk) back by 10:30 in the morning, and start to make cheese right away.”
Fifth Town’s fresh cheeses have a creamy, moist texture with no artificial additives. They include flavours like Garlic and Chives, Dill Weed and Lemon, and Lavender. The washed-rind varieties range from slightly salty, with complex aggressive flavours, to refined nutty, almost sweet lactic flavours. Washed-rind Cape Vessey is the top-selling cheese.
Lighthall Tomme, one of the hard varieties, was awarded first place in the Hard Aged Goat Cheese Category by the American Cheese Society in 2009. It offers a pleasant, light, almost nutty flavour, with a smooth, firm texture and a mild saltiness.
Last month, Fifth Town introduced County Quark, its newest cheese, in the retail shop at the creamery. County Quark is available in two flavours: Original and Maple. Quark is a type of fresh cheese made from cow’s milk, and is similar to cottage cheese. It is soft, white, unsalted and un-aged.
4309 County Road #8, Picton, Ontario K0K 2T0 Telephone 613.476.5755
About 20 minutes east of Picton, 8 minutes east of Waupoos Winery
Fifth Town cheese can be purchased year-round from the retail store in the plant and at Black River Cheese and Sobeys in Prince Edward County, as well as at more 50 other locations throughout Ontario.
A graduate of the post-graduate public relations program at Loyalist College, Colleen Vickers-Kleywegt is interning with the City of Quinte West. She loves to cook and bake and spend time with family, friends and her dog Bruiser.
Major Craig's great-great-grandson: Andrew Craig. Photo by Wayne Cuddington/Ottawa Citizen.
Have you ever had a favourite family recipe that your friends and family just couldn’t get enough of? That’s what happened to Andrew Craig of Ottawa with a chutney recipe that has a long family history.
For Christmas 2008, Andrew decided to gift his family and friends jars of the chutney they all loved and always asked for. He made three chutneys from the old family recipe called 1884 North India, Pomegranate Fig and a Date With Cranberry.
The gifts went over so well, he decided to put his 18 years in the food and beverage industry to good use. With the backing of his wife, and the urging from his father, Andrew named the chutneys after his great great-grandfather and put them on the market.
Major James Craig was a commissioned officer for the Indian Army in the late 1800s and worked for the East India Trading Company. While in India, he created the family favorite recipe which was handed down over the next 125 years on an old recipe card.
Major Craig’s Chutney is made with locally grown produce. With an ingredient list that includes apples, onions, cranberries, squash and hot peppers all grown in Ontario, it is a tasty addition to the menu of those committed to the 100-mile diet.
Major Craig’s Chutney can be purchased online from OGourmet. They are also available from more than 30 stores in the Ottawa area as well as selected shops in Toronto and other Ontario locations. The Frazer Café in Ottawa features the chutneys on its menu.
Last month, the chutneys received the 2011 LIVERight Award, a distinction by the Canadian Liver Association to recognize food products that are healthy for the liver.
Gloria Fletcher has completed a post-grad Public Relations program at Loyalist College and currently is interning at Campbellford Memorial Hospital Foundation. She blogs about PR and other matters at Fletchgirl’s Blog.
Steve Beauchesne with his father, Tim, at Beau’s All-Natural Brewing Company east of Ottawa.
The company logo says a great deal about the ethos of Beau’s All-Natural Brewing Company with the old-fashioned tractor symbolizing the hard work of Eastern Ontario’s farmers and the close family ties that strengthen their businesses.
Father and son team Tim and Steve Beauchesne founded Beau’s All-Natural Brewery on July 1, 2006. The family-run brewery also employs members of the immediate Beauchesne clan, in-laws, and close friends who have become like family.
When Tim and Steve started Beau’s, the pair had no professional background brewing beer; Tim ran a textile manufacturing company, while Steve worked for the provincial government. The idea of starting a family brewery was born over a pint in 2004. By 2006 Steve had moved home and the pair opened their craft brewery in Vankleek Hill, Ontario, an hour’s drive east of Ottawa.
“The idea of starting a brewery with my Dad just seemed like too much fun to pass up,” Steve admits.
The team noticed a void in the craft brewing business in Eastern Ontario, compared to the oversaturated Toronto-area market. They decided to brew a beer that reflected the Eastern Ontario geography and culture, because, as Tim said, “Eastern Ontario needs a beer to call its own.”
The Beauchesne’s secured Matt O’Hara as the Beau’s brewmaster. Matt has previously worked for Canadian beer makers McAuslan Brewing in Montreal and Upper Canada Brewing Company in Guelph, Ontario.
They focused on using local, natural ingredients to craft their suds. Their beers are made with certified organic malts and hops, and local spring water. There are no chemicals or fillers, and Beau’s beers are unpasteurized to ensure their flavour is pure.
“There are many, many reasons for this: supporting our community, stewardship of the environment, caring for the health of our customers,” Steve says. “But when it comes down it, for me, the most important reason is that I believe that organic ingredients make a superior beer.”
The Beau’s company also prides itself on being “totally D.I.Y.” – they brew, bottle, sell, market, and deliver their own products.
For the Beauchesne family, being a locally focused brewery means contributing to the community. Since April 2010, Beau’s All Natural Brewery has raised over $104,000 toward charitable works, community building, and independent arts, surpassing their goal of raising $100,000 in one year.
Beau's brewmaster Matt O'Hara. Photo by Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen.
Beau’s All Natural Brewery began with a single beer, Lug Tread Lagered Ale, the company’s award winning, signature brew. In 2010, Lug Tread won Gold in the Kolsch category at the Canadian Brewing Awards. Along with Lug Tread, Beau’s also offers a line of seasonal beers and their Wild Oats line – an experimental, limited-release series geared toward true beer fanatics.
“The idea of drinking only one beer every day just seems wrong to me and so it also seemed wrong to only brew one,” Steve said.
The Beau’s collection features:
Lug Tread Lagered Ale: The signature Beau’s beer, and its most popular brew. Crisp and golden-coloured, Lug Tread is top fermented like an ale, then cold-aged like a lager. Lug Tread tastes of malt and hop with delicate fruit flavours.
Beaver River I.P.Eh?: This Spring seasonal offering is the Beau’s take on an India Pale Ale, combining European and North American brewing styles. It’s a hoppy, strong beer (at 5.5 per cent alc./vol.) tasting of citrus and earth.
Festivale Alt Beer: The Summer seasonal beer celebrates the Eastern Ontario festival season, and was first crafted for the Ottawa Jazz Festival. Alt is a German-style beer, and this interpretation is crisp and light tasting, with caramel flavours.
Night Marzen Oktoberfest Lager: Beau’s Fall beer, Night Marzen is a traditional harvest brew, with bready malt flavours and noticeable hops. It was created in 2008 to celebrate Oktoberfest and the Eastern Ontario harvest season.
Bog Water Gruit Ale: Bog Water, Beau’s Winter seasonal beverage, was inspired by the Alfred Bog, an Eastern Ontario landmark. The beer features a truly unique hop replacement: bog myrtle, an herb commonly used in brewing during the 16th century. Bog Water is a malty beer that tastes of an earthy bitterness with notes of plum.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dan Sullivan: founder, viticulturalist and winemaker at Rosehall Vineyards. Photo by Rick VanSickle of Wines in Niagara.
In 2000, Dan Sullivan, his partner, Lynn Sullivan, and their brother-in-law Cam Reston, purchased a 150-acre farm in Hillier, Ontario, in the heart of what was then just the beginning of the Prince Edward County wine region.
The vineyard was planted in 2001, first harvest followed three years later, and in 2006, Rosehall Run Vineyards, named for the nearby hamlet of Rosehall, opened to the public with its first offerings. Since then, accolades and awards have followed, and Rosehall Run has become widely known—as much for its fine artisan wines as for the efforts of the Sullivans to raise the profile of the wine and local food communities.
Dan Sullivan is the vineyard manager, viticulturalist and winemaker, overseeing every facet of Rosehall Run’s operations.
Prior to founding Rosehall Run, Dan spent 15 years honing his craft as a home winemaker, being named Grand Master Winemaker by the provincial association. Since that time he has certainly upped his game, now producing 6,000 cases a year, yet he still maintains a hands-on approach to managing the vineyard. He monitors the weather and its effects and uses gentle, environmentally-sound grape farming techniques to extract optimum results from the unique Prince Edward County terroir, which is clay soil on a limestone base.
Planting of the vineyard began in 2001, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay occupying the majority of the 23 acres now in production. In addition to using their estate grapes, fruit is also sourced from other Prince Edward County and Niagara region vineyards.
Great view of the vineyards from the tasting deck at Rosehall Run in Hillier. Photo by Rick VanSickle of Wines in Niagara.
Rosehall Run’s wine is produced on-site in stainless steel tanks and aged in French, Hungarian and some Canadian oak. With a range of award-winning wines to sample, complimentary tours and a new tasting room in the works, Rosehall Run is definitely worth a visit on any County wine tour. Here are tasting notes on three of the most popular vintages.
TASTING NOTES
2008 Sullyzwicker White: With a bright straw colour, the Sullyzwicker White is a satisfying blend of Riesling, Chardonnay, Musqué, Ehrenfelser, Pinto Gris and Muscat Ottonel. It is a light-bodied, summery blend with floral notes and a mineral finish.
2007 Cold Creek Cabernet Franc: Aged in French oak, this wine has an abundant bouquet, and tantalizes the palate with rich tones of smoky blackberry and a long, dry finish.
2008 Chardonnay Rosehall Vineyard: Creamy and sweet, this Chardonnay is produced exclusively from estate grapes. It has a rich nose and pleasing aspects of vanilla and ripe peach.
WINE LIST
RED:
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon – a full-bodied wine made from Niagara grapes
2007 Cold Creek Cabernet Franc – made exclusively from County grapes, it was Gold Medal Winner at Finger Lakes International Wine Competition 2011
2007 Cuvée County Cabernet Franc – an easy-to-drink, casual wine, perfect for every day
2008 Cuvée County Gamay – made from 100% County grapes, this was Rosehall Run’s first Gamay
2008 Cuvée County Pinot Noir – a robust Pinot, it was a Gold Medal winner at ArteVino 2010
2007 Pinot Noir Jamie Kennedy – a collaborative creation with renowned chef Jamie Kennedy; 2007 was a superb year for reds
2008 Pinot Noir Rosehall Vineyard – made from estate grapes, it was a Gold Medal winner at ArteVino 2010
2008 Sullyzwicker Red – a blend of Cabernet Franc, Gamay, Pinot Noir and Syrah
WHITE:
2006 Chardonnay – oak barrel fermented for 10 months
2007 Chardonnay Jamie Kennedy – another collaborative creation with Chef Jamie Kennedy, sourced exclusively from estate grapes
2009 Chardonnay Musqué – this unoaked estate wine was Rosehall Run’s first Musqué
2008 Chardonnay Rosehall Vineyard – barrel fermented and aged sur lie for eleven months, it was a Gold Medal winner at Finger Lakes International Wine Competition 2011
2009 Chardonnay Sur Lie – lightly oaked, this wine contains both Prince Edward County and Niagara region fruit
2007 Cuvée County Chardonnay – contains 25% Chardonnay Musqué
2008 Cuvée County Chardonnay – Gold Medal winner at ArteVino 2010
2008 Fieldstone Vineyard Riesling – a dry wine with fruit sourced from a neighbouring vineyard
2008 Sullyzwicker White – a custom blend of six Prince Edward County grapes
ROSÉ:
Sullyzwicker Rosé – a blend of Gamay (90%) and Pinot Noir (10%)
Pinot Noir grapes fresh from harvesting at Rosehall Run. Photo by Toronto Tasting Notes.
Rosehall Run wines can be purchased at their retail store and through their website. Also available at some LCBO, LCBO Vintages, WineryToHome and select Ontario restaurants.
Rosehall Run Vineyards will be a Featured Winery 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 newest wine region and fastest-growing culinary destination. Rosehall Run wines will be available for tasting at Cooks & Curds Cheese Gala on Saturday and during Cheese & Artisan Food Fair on Sunday.
I’m 24 hours late for Video Wednesday but delighted, nevertheless, to introduce you to Curdy Girl aka Wendy Furtenbacher aka The Girl Who Really Loves Her Cheese. She is Canada’s newest cheese blogger and a hoot. Play the video clip and you’ll see what I mean.
By day, Wendy works at a professional association in Toronto. By night and on weekends, she indulges in her passion for fromage. Here’s her story, in her own words:
Like many people, I grew up with Kraft singles thinking that was good stuff. At least, it was fun to eat, all individually wrapped, but given that I’m from Québec, my first recollection of natural cheese is cheese curds. Nobody does squeaky cheese like the Québecois cheesemakers—squeaky, fresh, salty and available at every corner store by the cash register.
I can safely say that my palate has expanded quite a bit. Blues, Alpine cheeses, washed rinds, aged cheddars (clothbound in particular) are usually found in my fridge, along with milder fresh cheeses like chevres and buffalo mozzarella. I am always open to trying new cheeses. Sheep-milk cheese is a particular favourite.
Typically, I shop for my cheeses in farmers’ markets and specialty cheese shops. I have the most fun when I buy directly from the cheesemaker or highly knowledgeable cheesemongers who are passionate about their cheeses. I like a little education with my purchase.
Wendy is currently enrolled in the Professional Fromager program at George Brown College and has taken numerous cheese-appreciation classes around Toronto. And here’s a plug for her services: “I am available for corporate, reception or special event consultations and writing opportunities in cheese.”
—Georgs Kolesnikovs
Cheese-head-in-chief at CheeseLover.ca, Georgs Kolesnikovs is busier than heck these days with planning for The Great Canadian Cheese Festival on the first weekend in June.
The Guernsey girls of Upper Canada Cheese on the shores of Lake Ontario.
Forget about Jersey. It’s really all about Guernsey, and these Guernsey Girls are taking it from farm to table.
On the fair-weather shores of Lake Ontario, there lives a Guernsey herd of cows. These girls delight in their surroundings—basking in the lakefront sun, fresh air and fertile soil of land protected by Ontario’s Greenbelt at St. Anns, nestled in the bountiful Twenty Valley. Their blissful disposition on the family owned Comfort Farm assists in producing celebrated, uniquely golden-shaded, flavourful milk with distinct, local characteristics: ideal for premium cheesemaking.
It must be true, happy cows make superior milk.
And that makes Upper Canada Cheese Company’s founding partner Wayne Philbrick very happy as well. His creamery has committed since 2005 to using the exceptional Guernsey milk from this herd of about one hundred, one of only a half-dozen Guernsey herds in Canada, relying on their rich milk to create his select, artisanal cheeses: Comfort Cream and Niagara Gold.
After growing up in the Niagara Peninsula on a family-run fruit farm, Philbrick experimented with tandem passions for wine- and cheese-making, eventually getting hooked on the craft cheeses of Quebec during trips to the region. In developing the “first generation” of his two top-sellers, he chose Guernsey milk for the truly special features it afforded: enriched health benefits, quality, colour and, of course, creamy taste.
The breed originally hails from the island of Guernsey in the English Channel, but its adaptable temperament and unparalleled characteristics make it a clear winner for boundless gourmet-cheese production. Guernsey milk contains 12% more protein, 30% more cream, 33% more vitamin D, 25% more vitamin A and 15% more calcium than the average Holstein milk. Along with its uncommonly high yield of beta carotene, a great source of vitamin A which has been recently touted to help reduce the risk of certain cancers, the milk also has 5% butterfat and a notable 3.7 % protein content.
Working closely with the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Upper Canada Cheese has a rare arrangement with the DFO to deliver their Guernsey milk first in the morning before the truck picks up any other milk; allowing only the purest, freshest ingredients available to merge with the talents of their cheesemakers. The creamery also retains a license and the exclusive rights to create products using this particular local herd. Building these relationships required the ongoing persistence, perseverance and patience of Philbrick to ensure their specialty cheeses would always uphold an extraordinary and unique profile.
Upper Canada Cheese is located in Jordan Station, Ontario.
Now, in the first new Niagara creamery in generations, Upper Canada Cheese Company handcrafts and ages premium artisanal cheeses on-site at their Jordan Station location which also houses a cheese boutique that caters to the “culinary enthusiast.” Together with selected gourmet products, the epicurean store integrates Upper Canada’s make room and cellaring facility into a traditional train station building design; suggesting a historic return to the time-honored craft of cheesemaking itself.
“Each day, fresh, pure Guernsey cow milk is transformed into cheeses of uncommon taste and texture, revealing a subtle range of flavours influenced by the seasons, forage and feed,” Philbrick says. “Then, our cheeses are ideally aged in our own cellars until they’re ready for you. This is the whole food, farm to table idea; a minimum of food processing intervention to produce the purest cheeses possible.”
So, while this Guernsey herd might not “gym, tan and laundry” exactly like their counterparts on the shores of Jersey, these girls are thankfully proving to be a lot more tasteful.
TASTING NOTES
Comfort Cream – A camembert-style soft, white bloomy rind cheese with a silky, creamy, golden interior. Rich flavours of fresh truffles prevail with an intense, buttery palate and a long, tangy finish. This delicate and luscious artisanal cheese is hand-salted, hand-turned and hand-wrapped. Comfort Cream is stored in temperature and humidity-controlled cellars for at least four weeks before sale, with an additional few weeks of aging seeing the cheese ripen and mature in flavour, texture and colour.
Niagara Gold – An Oka-style, semi-soft, washed rind cheese fashioned after recipes developed by the Trappist monks of the Loire Valley. This is a cheese with nutty, earthy overtones and mellow, buttery flavours. A luscious cheese that is delicately mild and sweet when young and gains pungency and piquant qualities with age. The rind may be eaten or trimmed depending on your taste. It is sold after five months of careful aging in cellars and, under good conditions, it ages well for months and continues to develop unique flavours over time.
Also available:
Guernsey GirlGrilling Cheese, Guernsey Curds and Guernsey Gold RicottaCheese
If you can’t drop by, check out the Where To Buy page, or order by phone or email.
Wayne Philbrick, Founding Partner, Vivian Szebeny, Managing Partner
4159 Jordan Road, Jordan Station, ON L0R 1S0
Telephone 905.562.9730
Upper Canada Cheese Company will be a featured 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 hot new wine region and fastest-growing culinary destination.
—Christine Darragh
Based in the Garden City of St. Catharines, Ontario, freelance writer Christine Darragh specializes in food and wine and other attractions of the Niagara Peninsula.
