{"id":4985,"date":"2014-12-14T06:41:26","date_gmt":"2014-12-14T11:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cheeseloverca.wordpress.com\/?p=4985"},"modified":"2020-08-23T20:14:47","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T00:14:47","slug":"baluchon-a-love-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/2014\/12\/14\/baluchon-a-love-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Baluchon: A love story"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Childhood<\/a>
Childhood sweethearts Michel Pichet and Marie-Claude Harvey of award-winning Fromagerie F.X. Pichet near Qu\u00e9bec City.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baluchon is the story of a love lost and, two decades later, found again. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Marie-Claude Harvey and Michel Pichet were childhood sweethearts in the village of Champlain, Qu\u00e9bec, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River near Qu\u00e9bec City. But by the time they graduated from high school, they had drifted apart. She found a husband, he found a wife, they both had families before their marriages ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twenty years later they met again. He owned an organic dairy farm. She wanted to make cheese. Obviously, their love was still there, now fired by a common passion for dairy farming and cheesemaking. Thus, they married and 10 years ago, Fromagerie F.X. Pichet came to be in Sainte-Anne-de-la-P\u00e9rade, Qu\u00e9bec. Baluchon was their first-born cheese.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(The creamery was sold in 2017 to Abdel Ould Baba Ali and his son Yacine and became known as Fromagerie Baluchon<\/a>. In August 2020, the fromagerie was purchased by Fromagerie L\u2019Anc\u00eatre,<\/a> Qu\u00e9bec’s leading producer of organic cheese and butter.)<\/p>\n

\"Baluchon:<\/a>
Le Baluchon: Canadian Cheese of the Year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The name Baluchon in French refers to the small bundle of belongings travelers carried before the advent of mass transportation. Such a traveler, as a mouse character called Hapi, appears on all packaging for cheeses produced at the fromagerie<\/em> on the 260-acre farm called La Ferme F.X. Pichet, after Michel’s father.<\/p>\n

Michel and Marie-Claude are devoted to organic farming and cheesemaking. In Qu\u00e9bec, the certification process is rigorous, but they cannot see proceeding otherwise. Michel says: “It’s our way of life.”<\/p>\n

Their way of life lead them to dominate the 2014 Canadian Cheese Awards\/Le Concours des fromages fins canadiens with Baluchon being named Canadian Cheese of the Year<\/a> in addition to Best Organic Cheese and Best Semi-Soft Cheese.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In S\u00e9lection Caseus 2014, the prestigious competition for Qu\u00e9bec cheese, Baluchon was awarded Prix du Public in the semi-soft category. Even five years ago, in the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix, Baluchon was declared best organize cheese.<\/p>\n

\"Even<\/a>
Even as Baluchon begins to curdle, already the sweet dairy taste is there.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baluchon is exquisite, exemplifying the best in an organic, semi-soft cheese with a washed rind. It is made with thermized cow’s milk and ripened for a minimum of two months. In Qu\u00e9bec, thermized milk\u2014heated to 60 degrees Celsius for 15 seconds\u2014is considered raw milk.<\/p>\n

Baluchon is a creamy, melt-in-your-mouth cheese that tastes of hazelnut, cream, butter and leaves a slight clover aftertaste, so you really do taste the terroir.<\/p>\n

Tour the terroir at La Ferme F.X. Pichet and meet Michel Pichet and his cows in a pictorial we posted on Facebook after a visit in August<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The compact cheese plant is located on the farm in Champlain steps from the family home. Affinage rooms and the retail store are 20 kilometres away in Sainte-Anne-de-la-P\u00e9rade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Now<\/a>
Fromagerie F.X. Pichet in Sainte-Anne-de-la-P\u00e9rade, Qu\u00e9bec.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When they were getting started more than a decade ago, Marie-Claude and Michel consulted Andr\u00e9 Fouillet, a cheese expert from France, who recommended they use a cheesemaking process he developed when working with Oka, the Canadian classic. Fouillet consulted with a number of Qu\u00e9bec fromageries<\/em>, witness the many semi-soft, washed-rind cheeses produced in the region. Jonathan Portelance, a collaborator at the time, was inspired by the fruity aroma and floral taste of the French Comt\u00e9.<\/p>\n

“But Balachon is unique,” says Marie-Claude, “because of our milk and our way of making cheese. Right from the start, we wanted to use non-pasteurized milk\u2014for the taste. Good cheese starts with good milk. We prefer to use pure, organic milk because the integrity of milk is important to us. With conventional milk, you just don’t know what’s all in the milk.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An organic milk producer and cheesemaker (who, incidentally, works at giant Saputo) suggested the name Baluchon as the cheese could be served on tables around the world. She still supplies some milk and remains a good friend.<\/p>\n

\"Michel<\/a>
Michel Pichet’s talents as an artist are visible at the fromagerie.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why has Baluchon been so successful?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Because of the distinctive aroma and taste that’s stems from a certain synergy,” says Marie-Claude. “Our milk comes from a mix of breeds, Holsteins, Swiss Browns and the Canadienne. In our pastures, we have a mix of five or six different plants, grasses, clover, sweat peas and so on. In the plant, we have a mix of talented people. All that ‘team work’ comes together in le Baluchon.”<\/p>\n

\"Cheesemaker<\/a>
Cheesemaker Remi G\u00e9linas starts a new batch of Baluchon.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cheesemaker Remi G\u00e9linas is a key member of the team. He’s been with the fromagerie less than two years but has 25 years of experience in cheese and milk production.<\/p>\n

Click here for a pictorial of cheesemaking at Fromagerie F.X. Pichet.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What pairs well with Baluchon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Any tasty wine, red or white, that has a lot of aroma,” Marie-Claude says, expressing a preference for shiraz. In beer, she suggests a good amber or red.<\/p>\n

Where is Baluchon available outside of Qu\u00e9bec?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Baluchon now is widely available in cheese shops and Loblaws stores, especially since it was named Cheese of the Year in the spring. Baluchon and F.X. Pichet’s other cheeses are distributed by Fromages CDA<\/a> which represents members of the Qu\u00e9bec Artisan Cheese Guild. Telephone 1-866-448-7997 or 514-648-7997, email info@fromagescda.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Now<\/a>
Marie-Claude Harvey and Michel Pichet: poster children for organic dairy farming and cheesemaking in Qu\u00e9bec.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2014Georgs Kolesnikovs<\/em><\/p>\n

Georgs Kolesnikovs, cheese-head-in-chief at CheeseLover.ca, is founder of Canadian Cheese Awards\/Le Concours des fromages fins canadiens.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baluchon is the story of a love lost and, two decades later, found again. Marie-Claude Harvey and Michel Pichet were childhood sweethearts in the village of Champlain, Qu\u00e9bec, on the north shore of the St. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,69,98],"tags":[416,423,424],"brand":[],"class_list":["post-4985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baluchon","category-canadian-cheese-awards","category-cheese-of-the-year","tag-artisan-cheese","tag-canadian-cheese","tag-cheese"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4985"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6897,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions\/6897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4985"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=4985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}