Country products

Cow, goat or sheep?

The story of cheese in North America began with the first French settlement on Île d’Orléans, where the Aubin family was making an exquisite raw milk cheese. Generation after generation, the family continued to produce cheese. But in 1965, the cheese makers were hit with a regulation prohibiting the use of raw milk in the cheese industry. As a result, the heritage cheese vanished amid striking indifference.

Now, 40 years later, Le Paillasson is once again being made, “with very few changes to the product,” stresses Jocelyn Labbé, new master cheese maker at Fromages de l’Isle d’Orléans. “Without the help of Gérard Aubin, who passed along the original recipe, this artisanal cheese would never have been restored to us.” Once very common, in the old days Le Paillasson, like many other cheeses, was used as a bartering item by the island’s inhabitants.

In 2005, bartering is a thing of the past, raw milk is no longer taboo, and more and more cheeses are being produced on both shores of the St. Lawrence and up to the gulf. Cows, goats and sheep play a role in the success of farmstead cheeses (where the milk comes from the cheese maker’s own herd) and artisanal cheeses (where the milk comes from a collective or specific herd). These cheeses are made from raw, pasteurized or heated milk (heated at a low temperature, that is) and, in some cases, are certified organic. While touring all of Québec’s cheese makers and ripeners is unfortunately not feasible in a few short paragraphs, we can suggest a few cheeses from our “home-grown” stock.

The laughing cow

Do you know why she’s laughing? She’s laughing because she dominates cheese production and her milk is found, among others, in our Cheddars, the flagship of the cheese industry. Cow’s milk is also used in the production of an extraordinary semi-firm cheese, Le Grand Chouffe, whose rind is washed in the Belgian beer to which it owes its name. Produced by the Fromagerie Champêtre in Repentigny (415, rue des Industries, Le Gardeur • 450 654-1308), it has a slight flavour of hazelnuts and wild mushrooms and the delicate aroma of La Chouffe beer.

Further north, on the shores of Lac Saint-Jean, you’ll find Kénogami, a popular soft, washed-rind cheese made by the Fromagerie Lehmann (291, rang Saint-Isidore, Hébertville • 418 344 1414 418 344 1414). This raw milk farmstead cheese is virtually organic and, in terms of flavour, falls between Reblochon and Munster.

Tomme fans will want to visit the Compton region, home of the Fromagerie La Station, whose pastures, where the herd grazes, are certified organic. The producer makes two raw milk cheeses: Comtomme and Alfred le fermier. Admittedly, cow’s milk isn’t for everyone. For those who are bovine protein and/or lactose intolerant, here are a few tasty alternatives.

One sheep, two sheep, three sheep… 750 sheep

Zzzzz? That’s doubtful. It’s not easy to fall asleep in a sheep-pen, much less a cheese house. Sheep’s milk is the richest of the three and has been used to make cheese for over 5,000 years. Easier to digest, its nutritional value is very high: it contains twice as many minerals and B vitamins as cow’s or goat’s milk.

Want more?

Any discussion of Québec’s cheeses would be incomplete without mentioning a tiny cheese producer hidden in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine archipelago: the Fromagerie du Pied-De-Vent. This establishment makes an eponymous raw milk farmstead cheese with a slightly acidulous cream flavour. So there you have a small representation of Québec’s cheeses. Keep in mind that the majority of cheese makers offer guided tours and tastings of their wares. In all cases, we strongly suggest you call in advance to find out business hours and to reserve a tour.

Cheese by the numbers

Québec’s cheese production accounts for nearly half of Canada’s production, totalling close to 180,500,000 kg (397,930,300 lb.) of cheese. Nearly 1,900,000,000 litres (501,600,000 U.S. gallons) of milk from 407,000 cows, 12,000 goats and 750 sheep are processed here.  Québec is home to 200 cheese makers by trade, including 80 farmstead, artisanal and semi-industrial operations, which offer over 300 different varieties.

André Quenneville
2008-04-16