Jac Le Chevrier

Jac Le Chevrier is a soft paste, natural rind pasteurised goat milk cheese.

This artisanal cheese is presented in the form of a small cylinder 6 cm (2 1/2") round and 4.5 cm (2") high and weighs approximately 135 grams (4.75 oz.). Jac Le Chevrier has a golden wheat coloured wrinkly rind with a white fine chalky paste.

Jac Le Chevrier has a mild to medium intensity with a delicate goat milk aroma and hazelnut flavour. Its texture is rather smooth and creamy if ripened one month.

Jac Le Chevrier is produced by cheese-maker and farmer Jacques Mailhot on his eco-cert organic farm located in Saint Flavien in the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Québec.

http://www.routedesfromages.com/repertoire/detail/413

Le Bleu d'Elizabeth

The perfect cheese to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee; Le Bleu d'Elizabeth

Le Bleu d'Elizabeth is an award winning blue cheese made by La Fromagerie du Presbytère. The cheese is made with thermized organic cow milk, it has a thin amber natural rind with lovely blue and greenish coloured veins running through the pale yellow paste that is semi-firm.

Bleu d'Elizabeth has a soft rich creamy texture with a well-balanced salty taste leaving a slight caramel flavour on the tongue. Bleu d'Elizabeth is not an overbearing blue cheese it can be served and enjoyed alone, as an attractive and well appreciated addition to any cheese platter or added to your pasta dishes or salads. Here's a tasty recipe for a Waldorf salad using Le Bleu Elizabeth.

Le Bleu d'Elizabeth is the second gold medal winning cheese to come from Fromagerie du Presbytère run by brothers Jean and Dominique Morin who are fourth generation farmers. The family farm named Louis D'Or (also the name of their other gold winner cheese) is located in Ste. Elizabeth de Warwick in central Quebec near Drummondville. The organic milk used to produce their award winning cheese come from the farm's mixed herd of Holstein, Jersey and a few Canadienne cattle.

http://www.fromageriedupresbytere.com/

Un Chèvre À Ma Manière

A delightful new cheese has arrived at La Fromagerie Atwater that I'm quite excited about. It is a new Québec artisanal pasteurised goat milk cheese called Chèvre À Ma Manière.

My first impression is that it looks so similar to a Saint-Félicien. Chèvre À Ma Manière weighs around 200 grams (7 ounces), measuring 9 cm (3 1/2"), round shaped, it has a pale golden natural mold rind and a very creamy runny white pâte. It is a fairly young cheese with an affinage of a couple of weeks. It has a nice balanced sweetness, sourness and acidity with a pleasant caprine lingering flavour. 

When trying to describe how I feel about this cheese the lyrics of the 1991 song “What Is Love?” by the group Deee-Lite comes to mind; “ How do you say delicious? How do you say delovely? How do you say delectable? How do you say divine?”

Chèvre À Ma Manière is fabricated by Simon Hamel of L’Atelier Fromagerie in Ste-Hélène-de-Chester in the Centre-du-Québec region.

Chèvre À Ma Manière pairs well with a Chenin Blanc. 

Check out: Radio Canada's  Bien dans son Assiette' video and article: "Le gagnant du Caseus de bronze".

Les Métayères

Les Métayères is a semi-firm cheese, with a non-cooked pressed paste and washed rind. It is made from non-pasteurised cow milk. The cheese is aged approximately 90 days.

The milk of Les Métayères cheese is thermised but non-pasteurised. Thermised milk is raw milk that has been heated for at least 15 seconds at a temperature between 57 and 68 degrees C. This method helps to preserve the flavours in the milk and at the same time reduces the number of micro-organisms.

Les Métayères is a mild cheese with a smooth rich and creamy pâte with a subtle fruity flavour and nutty aroma. It pairs nicely with a dry white Italian Soave wine.

Les Métayères is produced by La Fromagerie Du Champ à la Meule located in Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes in the Lanaudière region of Quebec.  La Fromagerie is operated by Martin Guilbault and his family, they also manufacture the popular Victor et Berthold, Fêtard and Laracam cheeses.

Les Métayères cheese was created to help finance the Maison Saint-Gabriel a 17th century school and farm-house run by the Sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. The congregation founded by Ste. Marguerite Bourgeoys is located in Montreal's south-west district of Pointe Saint-Charles. The cheese is named in honour of les Métayères, the name given to the nuns who worked the farm. 

All the cheeses at Fromagerie Du Champ à la Meule come from the milk of Ayrshire cows.

http://www.fromagesdici.com/repertoire/fromageries/fromagerie-du-champ-a-la-meule

Read on my visit at the Fromagerie Du Champ à la Meule

Brebichon

Brebichon is a soft artisanal pasteurized sheep-milk cheese. The light wheat coloured rind is washed with apple cider. Brebichon has a soft mild creamy texture that is luscious with a light apple flavour and aroma. 

Brebichon is produced by Les Fromages du Verger operated by Michel Guérin et Brigitte Maillette, situated on a lovely apple orchard located in St-Joseph-du-Lac in Quebec.

Apart from harvesting fourteen varieties of apples, the farm produces a variety of both fresh and refined sheep milk cheeses. The dairy ewes of East Friesian and Lacaune breed of sheep are fed apples from the orchard, which results in a rich and unique milk that is highlighted in their original and consistent cheeses produced at Les Fromages du Verger.

http://www.lesfromagesduverger.com/
 

Grey Owl

Grey Owl is a striking ash covered pasteurized goat milk cheese.

The edible dark vegetable ash rind contrasts beautifully against the snowy white uncooked paste that is quite dense. The fresh crumbly texture is quite smooth and creamy in the mouth with a sweet tangy nutty flavor.  

Grey Owl cheese pairs well with a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio.

Grey Owl is produced by Fromagerie Le Détour located in Notre-Dame-Du-Lac, Québec in the region of Lac Témiscouata near the New Brunswick border. Grey Owl cheese is named after a legendary conservationist, who inhabited the region of Témiscouata; Archie Belaney who was known under his adopted Ojibwe name “Grey Owl”.

The milk for Grey Owl cheese comes from Saanen Goats, a Swiss breed of dairy goats.

http://fromagerieledetour.ca/

Photo source: informedfarmers.com

Alfred Le Fermier

Alfred Le Fermier is an excellent organic raw cow milk artisanal cheese from Fromagerie La Station de Compton.

Alfred Le Fermier has a lovely orange tinted yellowish washed-rind that produces a nice woodsy rustic aroma due to the cheese having been ripened for eight months on spruce boards. The cooked, pressed, firm, golden paste leaves delightful nutty, butter and floral lingering flavours.  

Alfred Le Fermier pairs well with a California fumé blanc.

Alfred Le Fermier cheese is named in honour of Alfred Bolduc.  Mr. Bolduc was the first of the family four generations ago to settle in Compton, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.  An eye-catching silhouette of Alfred Bolduc is pressed into every wheel of cheese the Fromagerie La Station make.  Fromagerie La Station produces excellent farmstead organic cheeses and raclette.

Read on my visit of Fromagerie La Station de Compton

http://www.fromagerielastation.com/

La Beurrasse

La Beurrasse is a wonderful goat milk cheese spread (tartinade) made by La Fromagerie Ruban Bleu in Mercier, Quebec.  Whenever I have some of La Beurrasse in the fridge I can't resist wanting to spread it on to toast, bagels, crackers whatever I have around.  It has a very light creamy fluffy texture with a mild goat milk flavor that is irresistible and quite addictive.  La Beurrasse is made with 100% goat milk and contains only 15% fat.

http://www.rubanbleu.net/

Sabot De Blanchette

This beautiful pyramid shape natural rind goat milk cheese is always a winner for me. In fact the shape of the cheese is like the goat’s hoof, hence its name Sabot De Blanchette.

The Sabot De Blanchette central paste is white with a smooth, creamy texture that just melts in your mouth. This chevre’s beautiful light natural wrinkly rind (sometimes spotted with tiny blue mold specks) has a slight tart taste, followed by a salty flavor which turns to a nutty sweetness. Mmmm... One of my favorite Québec goat milk cheeses.

Le Sabot is produced by Fromagerie La Suisse Normande located in St-Roch de l'Achigan in Quebec's Lanaudière region.

http://www.lasuissenormande.com/

Louis D'Or

Louis D'Or is an organic raw cow milk cheese with a washed rind and a firm pressed cooked paste.

Louis d'Or is a huge 40 kilogram wheel farmstead cheese made by Fromagerie du Presbytère in Sainte-Elizabeth-de-Warwick, Québec. Inspired by the traditional cheese-making know-how from the Jura region, the cheese-maker Jean Morin created an amazing cheese.

The Holstein and Jersey cows at the organic Ferme Louis d'Or are fed dry hay daily. The pastures provide the herd with clover, timothy grass, bluegrass and other organic grains. As a result of this, the milk used to produce the cheese is of exceptional quality. The 9 month aged cheese has a smooth texture, warm nutty and floral notes in both aroma and taste. The 24 month aged Louis-d'Or soft yellow paste show small crystals infiltrating its smooth texture leaves you with more complex lingering flavours.

Louis d'Or is the winner of numerous cheese awards. It was chosen "Grand Champion" at the 2011 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix, 3rd place award for “Best in Show” at the 2011 American Cheese Society cheese competition and Golden Caseus at the 2010 and 2012 Selection Caseus.

http://www.fromageriedupresbytere.com/