Dec. 29, 2008 – Ruth Klahsen, a veteran chef well-known to patrons of Rundles, makes more than 30
different cheeses including the "wow" one called Piacere
1. Monforte Dairy Company, Millbank
In the heart of Amish
country, cheesemaker Ruth Klahsen, a veteran chef well-known to patrons
of Rundles and the Old Prune in Stratford where she once cooked, makes
more than 30 different cheeses including the "wow" one called Piacere
(pleasure in Italian), a semi-soft sheep's milk cheese covered with
rosemary, savoury, chill pepper and juniper, that's addictive.
2. Fifth Town Artisan Cheese, Picton
Fifth
Town, which gets its name from its location, once known as "Fifth Town"
or the fifth town to be settled in newly formed Upper Canada, makes
about 15 cheeses including I Wish, an Idiazbal-style sheep's-milk
cheese (a Basque style smoked cheese), cave-aged for three to nine
months, and Lemon Fetish, a soft sheep's milk cheese that's lightly
aged and made with lemon zest.
3. Upper Canada Cheese Company, Jordan
The well-stocked
factory shop naturally features Upper Canada's two unique cheeses
produced using the milk of a single local Niagara herd of Guernsey cows
cared for by the Comfort Family (one of only a half dozen Guernsey
herds in Canada), namely the Oka-style semi-soft Niagara Gold fashioned
after recipes developed by the Trappist Monks, and Comfort Cream, their
camembert-style soft, white bloomy rind cheese.
4. Thunder Oak Cheese, Thunder Bay
One
of the most northerly of Ontario's cheesemakers, Thunder Oak took the
Canadian Cheese Grand Prix in 2002 for the best firm cheese for their
handcrafted farmstead Gouda. The cheese company was founded by Jacob
and Margaret Schep, who both came from cheese-making families in
Holland.
5. Les Brebis sur le toit bleu, Oxford Mills
This
small farm with a name evocative of Jean Cocteau and 1920's Paris has
been developing a special herd of dairy sheep, such as Lacaune, East
Friesian and Rideau Arcott crosses, to produce Pyrenees-style Tomme,
blue cheese and feta. www.sheepcheese.ca
— Margaret Swaine, a cheese- and wine-loving Toronto based writer, who makes it a point to search out both wherever she goes.
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