Pont L’Eveque

About once every two months, I like to go cross-border shopping into Bellingham, Washington. It’s only 1.5 hours from Vancouver, and-unlike Vancouver-it has a Trader Joe’s store- full of Canadians. The parking lot is awash with BC plates, it’s almost laughable.

Trader Joe’s features a new “Spotlight” cheese every month. This cheese is sold as a killer special deal,  and their cheese, in general, is about half the price of the same cheese in Canada. You can imagine what I like to stock up on (along with the lacy chocolate cookies and coconut ribbons-I digress.)

Yesterday I picked up April’s special, Pont L’Eveque. Now, it is May, not April, so I’m really hoping that this cheese is still good. It’s a little risky buying a famous and fragile cheese like this. It’s really a cheese that should be cherished and purchased lovingly from a cheese monger who slices off a morsel, wraps it in cheese paper and passes it to you-but here it is bought in bulk.  

Pont L’Eveque is a French cheese made of (in this case) pasteurized cow’s milk. It carries the DOP label (appelation d’origine protegee) so that means it’s the real thing. I confess to being a little confused over whether or not this cheese is normally pasteurized-web sources seem to contradict themselves. However, this Trader Joe’s version is pasteurized, that may have been done to allow sale into the USA-not sure.

It’s a washed rind cheese and one of the very oldest of the French cheeses-and that’s saying something. A famous French poem from the 13th century makes reference to this cheese, so people have been eating and loving this one for a long time.

Some believe it is named after the Norman Abbey monks who first introduced it in the 12th century. Pont l’Eveque was originally called Angelot cheese. It’s also called Moyaux cheese. Why it needs three names is unclear, but you can just interchange them at a dinner party and people will think you are amazing!

Pont L’Eveque looks like a square brie or camembert, except it is a washed rind cheese, so it’s a little yellow and sticky on the outside-not that velvety white. There are small lines running through the rind. The inside is soft and gooey-I have been letting it warm up, unwrapped on my counter for about an hour (please do let your cheese warm up, it’s so much happier if you do!) It’s slightly bulgy and creamy looking on the inside, there are several small eyes throughout the paste.

Now, the smell. I have read a number of accounts describing how stinky this cheese is. People refer to all sorts of bodily odours in comparison to this cheese, and that’s just silly. Anyone who thinks this cheese smells obviously hasn’t eaten a lot of cheese. Yes, it is a washed rind cheese, which means that there are a lot of happy bacteria on the rind (not just inside) so it is a little funky, but don’t be scared off by reports of it’s reek. They are misleading. It’s a nice, pungent little smelling cheese.

Here goes:

Mmmm. Oh, I like it! It tastes like asparagus to me. Isn’t that weird? It’s pretty mild, with that expected hit of ammonia from any washed rind, but it mixes nicely with the creamy, smooth interior. There’s a great balance of salt, and as it’s a rather small cheese there’s a lot of rind to body ratio-so that stronger rind mixes with the creamy interior and gives a great flavour profile. OK, I’m going to say it-it does taste a tiny bit like pee or maybe belly button (these are both guesses, for the record, I actually don’t know what either of those taste like) but there is something a little carnal about this cheese. It has a nice, “I’m alive and you are eating me” sort of taste, but I like that! I don’t want to eat some dead, wimpy sort of cheese.  I might like it even more with a little slice of pear or apple, it is described as a dessert cheese, and I get that.

Funky, gnarly, yummy, cheap.

Go and get some!

Tilsit-by Golden Ears Cheeseworks

Did you miss me?

Did you miss the cheese?

Thank you, loyal readers-for staying with me over the past several months whilst I investigated other foods. True, other food is fabulous, but really-this blog is about cheese, and I have re-committed myself to investigating and reporting on new cheeses, whenever and wherever I shall find them.

Yesterday I was driving home from Mission to Vancouver, BC, when it suddenly occured to me that I should attempt to visit Golden Ears Cheesecrafters, located in Maple Ridge. I have noticed their cheeses popping up across stores in the lower mainland over the last year, but had not actually tasted their cheeses myself-such an oversight.

The storefront itself is handsome and inviting-a farmhouse stand with a small restaurant and many locally sourced foods for sale. It had that unmistakable “cows are doing their cow-work smell” welcoming me as I parked, and I just love that in a weird way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But more importantly, inside, the cheese…There were about 10 of their hand-made cheeses for sale at the store. Many of them seemed to be variations of flavoured gouda though, and I do try to stay away from flavoured cheese. So I took a pass on those. I chatted briefly with owner, Kerry Davison who told me about the company, and also the cheese making-done on site by her daughter, Jenna, who is relatively new to the world of cheese making, but clearly passionate and talented.

All of the cheese at Golden Ears is made from pasteurized cow milk, not organic. However, the milk does come from the Jersey farm next door, (owned by Kerry’s brother) so at least the terroir is on point, and it’s really, all in the family.

After hemming and hawing for some time (sorry people behind me in line) I finally decided to try their Tilsit cheese, as I have never before sampled Tilsit.

Tilsit,aka Tilsiterkase, AKA Tilsit Havarti was originally made by Prussian-Swiss immigtrants to the Emmental valley who had a hankering for their beloved Gouda. As they didn’t have the same ingrediants or environment, Tilsit was what happened instead.

Tilsit is usually brick-shaped and smear ripened and often (but not in my case) has extra tastes added to it such as caraway or herbs. Tilsit is popular in Switzerland and Germany and according to web sources, usually aged 12-18 weeks, although my sample is 17 months old-so clearly, it stores well! Interestingly, this Tilsit doesn’t seem to exist on the Golden Ears Website-a limited run perhaps? Oh, I do love a limited run.

My little wedge of Tilsit is semi-firm and a handsome, strong-looking cheese. The rind is natural, and I can see the imprint of cheesecloth on it. As you get closer to the rind the cheese is a darker yellow, and I do love that. There are some small eyes in the paste. The smell is very faint and reminds me of an emmental-nutty and mellow.

Here goes: Hmmmm. I would add salt. That’s my first hit, it’s remarkably Un-salty-and you know the palate just expects salt in cheese. It’s got a nice mouth feel, it’s chewy and actually reminds me of a Mountain or Alpine cheese with that firm but yielding chew experience. The flavour is really mild and quite benign, but saying that it’s actually delicious. It’s an easy cheese to eat, fatty and warm and yummy-nothing scary here folks, just a nice, mild chilled out little cheese-perhaps good for those on a low sodium diet?

I will be back soon, as I have another cheese from this charming fromagerie to review.

Getting Back to Cheese

Hello out there!

I have decided to re-dedicate myself to this blog and all things cheese.  

I have deleted some old posts that reflected other adventures of mine, so that this blog can stay focussed on the true beauty of cheese.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, I will be adding now posts and cheeses soon.

Great Canadian Cheese Rolling Competition

Some days are perfect. Cheese. Mountains.  Tumbling down hills in spectacular wipeouts in front of crowds.  Perfect!

Today was such a day.  I competed in the Great Canadian Cheese Rolling Competition in Whistler, BC.  Now personally, as an athlete-this was a debacle, but make no mistake- I was there to complete, not to compete, and complete I did.

As I discussed previously in cheese review number 74, Double Gloucester http://myblogofcheese.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/day-74-double-gloucester/ cheese rolling has been going on for hundreds of years in England, and no one really knows why. Every year in the town of Coopers Hill, a round of Double Gloucester cheese rolls, and a boisterous gang of drunken, mostly male youth chases after it.  Quite often breaks and sprains and sometimes grievous injuries result-in fact-a line of ambulances greats the cheese and runners at the bottom of Coopers Hill.  The cheese roll has actually gotten a little ugly for poor old Cooper’s Hill due to overcrowding-mostly of wannabe outsiders as well as general rowdiness.  In fact, there has been talk of canceling the roll at Cooper’s Hill on a permanent basis. So sad!

Thus, the best option for all who yearn to chase a cheese down a hill is for each Country to have its own cheese rolling contest, and leave poor Cooper’s Hill alone!  This is just what the good folks at http://www.canadiancheeserolling.ca/ have done for the last 5 years.  Sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Canada it’s one of Canada’s “most exciting and unique sporting events” and was held today on August 18th in Whistler, British Columbia and yours truly competed.  Oh yes she did.

Now-why chase cheese down a hill, one might rightly ask.  I’m sorry to say I don’t know that there is an answer to this question.  It’s something innate..the need to chase and hunt, and in this case to chase and hunt a cheese.  Why a cheese?Why a mountain? I’m not sure, I wish it were a little less steep, quite frankly, but there it is.  It simply must be experienced, it cannot be explained.  Get this on your bucket list now and thank me later. Just do it, ok?

There were several hundred other like-minded cheese and mountain focussed people gathered around together under the baking hot Whistler sun. At the bottom of the “hill” clustered several vendors giving free snackies of cheese. I-of course-snagged some Cows Avonlea Cloth Bound Cheddar (actually two wedges came home with me) and chatted with people about the joys of Alpindon Cheese and scored some of my all-time favorite Comox Brie by Natural Pastures.  Really, there was lots of great cheese to be had for free and also free cheese seminars-although I was too busy vamping around for photo ops to take advantage of them. For instance, below I am pictured with Wally Smith, president of the Dairy Farmers of Canada, yup-that’s how I roll!

There were several male and female heats in this race of about 10 racers in each heat.  At last, it was time for the “green band females” to get dressed in protective gear.  We “green-band” females huddled in the athlete’s tent while I amused/assailed my co-green banders with stories of the history of cheese rolling (sorry ladies).  Then it was time to hike up the “hill.”  At the top of this heinously steep “hill” (mountain) the racers (in protective garb) got to touch-or in my case-kiss-the cheese for luck.  This cheese was a custom-made Natural Pastures 11-pound wheel of Cracked Pepper Verdelait cheese (not a double Gloucester).  The  Cracked Pepper Verdelait was then set free to tumble down the hill at 65 KM/hour  while the racers raced behind it.  Really, race is such a strong word, it’s more like try so hard no to die.  You can’t stop yourself, you are falling down a mountain uncontrollably, falling after a round of cheese.  I actually made it about 2/3 of the way before going arse over teakettle down the hill a bit and scratching up my side and hands, but what glorious scratches!  I shall treasure them forever and brag ad nausea-um at work over them.  Behold my glorious tumble!

There were also costume contests and other fun activities for the whole family, but I was so focussed on the race that I only snapped this one picture of some charming cows, bucket of milk and cheese who ran in my heat-actually the cow came in second.

What can I say?  You really must add this one to your bucket list.  It’s a great fun day of insane activity and free cheese, does it get any better than that?  Bravo Canadian Cheese Rolling contest, I bummed I didn’t win, but there’s always next year, right?

Cheese 123-Louis d’Or Vieille

 

It’s getting harder these days to really excite me about a new cheese. I’m perhaps a little jaded, 123 cheeses into this strange little foray of mine…but yesterday-my heart stopped.  While at my local cheese shop looking for something “sexy, Canadian, and hard” (yes, those were my criteria, don’t laugh) my eyes fell upon something I had somehow missed before.  It was a large handsome cheese: hard, firm, Canadian…organic, unpasteurized, and a gold medal winner…breathing harder, yes…this is the cheese I have been looking for, and it was right under my nose.

You see, it turns out that I really am mad for Canadian cheese-all things being equal-which they aren’t, of course.  To find a great cheese made in my homeland just seems right.  There’s supporting your fellow Canadians, then’s there’s the carbon footprint, et cetera, but really, why not eat Canadian cheese?  Especially when Canadians are so damn good at making damn good cheese, especially the French-why?  Why is it always Quebec?  This is a great mystery to me.

I digress.  Today’s handsome (and hard and Canadian, I did mention that, right) cheese is a Comte look alike (and I love me some Comte) made by the Quebecois Fromagerie du Presbytere.  It’s a cow’s milk cheese made with organic milk right on the farm.   It’s rare to find such a large Mountain Style cheese made here in Canada as it takes quite a commitment to make and then store a cheese of this size. I reviewed another cheese by this groovy fromagerie back in my early cheese days-Laliberte which was an unctuous and yummy triple cream brie, but today’s cheese is their eponymous headliner-and I tend to think that when something is eponymous, it’s really special!

I’m kind of stealing this next bit from my old review, but it just bears repeating, and it’s not theft if it’s from yourself. “The farm of Louis d’or, is a family run company operated by four generations of the Morin family.  Even better, it’s  artisanal, family owned, and organic.  This family turned to organic farming in the 1980′s, which makes them early adopters.   The farm has a herd of Holstein and Jersey cows which graze in the organic pastures of clover, timothy grass, bluegrass and other organic grains. These cows are never given antibiotics or hormones. In 2005 this Morin family decided to remodel an old church rectory called Sainte-Élizabeth de Warwick. It was located just in front of their farm.  All their cheese is now made in this refurbished building and the family only makes artisanal organic certified cheese. Wow, this is sounding like an ad for this fromagerie.  But come on, a refurbished cheese rectory.”

This beautiful cheese is remarkable for its size- it’s made in 40 KG wheels, and has a washed rind and a firm pressed cooked paste.  It is made from raw milk, so pregnant ladies we warned! Typically this cheese is served at the 9 month age-and this is the one that won all the prizes, but my little sample is the Vieille or aged and is 18 months old.  Yes, be jealous of me, that’s perfectly understandable. Louis D’Or (at the 9 month age) is a big winner taking the 2011 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Grand Champion as well as best in class in firm cheese, farmhouse cheese, organic cheese too, and the American Cheese Society best of show third place, along with numerous other awards.   Are you impressed yet?  How can we ask for more?  It’s an award winning  family made cheese based on happy organic cows and a refurbished rectory.  I’m sold.

 

My long slice of Louis d’or Vieille which from the sounds of it I was lucky to find-due to the popularity of this cheese, is an attractive creamy yellow with a dark brown natural rind.  I see other reviews referencing eyes in this cheese, but my sample does not contain them…mine is also the 18 month version, so I am unclear if this is the cause.  It appears as though there is some crystallization or tyrosine throughout the paste-which makes me crazy with desire…I love me some tyrosine!  It smells wonderful, nutty and deep and really for all the world like a Comte.  It’s a mellow and mature cheese, it’s begging me to enter into a conversation with it…and I shall.

Here goes…

There’s so much going on here, I don’t even know where to start. First, it’s floral, and sweet, I’m so shocked!  It’s very mellow and round, but ultimately very, very sweet and benign more like a great Gruyere than anything else.  There are no sharp or uric notes whatsoever, it’s just totally mellowed out, it’s like a Zen master of cheese. Sweet, round, mellow, pleased with itself and the balance it has achieved in this world.  The texture is fabulous, it’s firm to the teeth, but enjoys a little chew before dissolving into a sweet milky paste-there’s a faint fleck or tyrosine, but that’s not the show stopper here-the show stopper is the taste, it’s really unlike anything I have ever tasted before, it’s clover, sunshine, friendship and happiness. It’s a revelation in cheese.  Unlike many cheeses this one should be eaten by itself, with nothing else-it’s cheese in the purest form: complex, developed, wise, sumptuous.  If you can get your hands on this cheese, do it, you can thank me later.

Holy Hannah Louis D’Or, you are most definitely my slice of cheese, bravo!

 

Cheese 122-Shropshire Blue

First, an apology. For those of you who are regular readers of this blog you may have noticed that I neglected to write a post last Saturday.  After nearly a year of daily and then weekly posts, this was a first, and I am deeply chagrined.  In truth, it was a confluence of family events so wretched that cheese could not be made a priority-yes that bad!  Thus, today’s post-a Thursday post-is a make up for last week. I promise another in two day’s time barring no new family type emergencies. Forgive me.

The more cheese I taste and review, the more I realize that there really are only 5 types of cheese: washed rind, bloomy rind, blues, mountain, and fresh.  All cheeses are some combination or permutation of the above with a tweak on the milk used, the affinage, the addition of a particular mould or salt or wash, but really…that’s it!  Yes, this small number of cheese types produces an almost infinite number of actual cheeses…just like humans, I suppose.  We are all a combination of egg and sperm, but what a sumptuous variety.

I mention this because today’s cheese, Shropshire Blue, is referred to as the “love child” of Cheshire and Stilton.  Well, no one actually uses the phrase “love child,” but I shall here today, on My Blog of Cheese!  Cheshire and Stilton had a lovely little orange baby.  Both of these British cheeses have been reviewed here, Cheshire-an ancient British crumbly and salty cow’s milk cheese, and Stilton, the famous cow’s milk British Blue…but, their child, Shropshire Blue came out orange!  Sometimes kids come out funny in the wash.

Interestingly, I really haven’t been able to pin down the origins of this cheese to my satisfaction.  Numerous sources on the web give quite different inception dates, and these are all great sources, so it’s quite the mystery.   One excellent source says it came to be in 1970 at the Castle Stuart dairy in Scotland by Andy Williamson, a cheesemaker who had trained in the making of Stilton, while another trustworthy source claims it was created in the 1930′s by a Cheshire Cheese dealer Dennis Biggins. This troubles me.  Was it Biggins, or was it Williamson?  Was it the 1970’s or the 1930’s?  Everyone seems to agree that it was first made in Scotland and the name Shropshire was used fictitiously to cash in on the cache of British cheese names, but who and when?  It’s a freaking mystery.

What I do know for certain, is that Shropshire Blue is now made in Britain, not Scotland, and although the cheese is not protected it is only made by three cheese makers.  I also know that Shropshire Blue is a blue cheese made from pasteurized cow’s milk which gets its funky Halloween colour from our good friend, annatto. The mould used to produce this beauty is our old friend, penicillium roqueforti.  Shropshire Blue has a natural rind and ages about 2-3 months before sale. It is usually made by Stilton makers using the same technique as Stilton, the only real difference being the annatto which does  interact in the aging giving this cheese and ever so slightly sour but sharper and spicier taste than Stilton.  But really, Shropshire Blue  is Stilton with a spray tan.

 

My little wedge of mysterious Shropshire Blue, and I say mysterious as I actually don’t even know who the maker is of this specific cheese-a huge shame- cheese mongers, don’t deny this knowledge to me-it’s like a foundling at the hospital door, yes, it’s a child, I can see that, but what about the parentage? I digress, my little wedge of mysterious Shropshire Blue is truly hideous, yet lovely.  It’s a deep russet orange flecked through with blue veining.  I showed it to my husband, who recoiled visibly, it’s really not what most people think of when they think of cheese.  The rind is natural and thin and brown, and the colour becomes darker towards the rind. When I sliced the cheese it crumbled a little, it’s just begging to be eaten. The cheese smells mild, and here I mean mild in a blue cheese sort of way.  It actually just made my mouth water sniffing it…oh, I can’t wait!

Here goes…

Salty! Spicy! Creamy!  It’s a Stilton, no-it’s not as sweet as Stilton, this Shropshire Blue burns my throat, it’s really peppery and spicy…what is that?  Is that the annatto?  No orange cheddar has ever done that. Seriously, my throat is on fire, this is weird. Could it be an allergy?  Who cares. The texture is amazing, smooth with little crystal flecks, I wish I could smear this on something, it’s begging for smearing and a slice of pear, but I am a purist-I resist.  There’s a real ammonia kicker to this cheese, more so than in most blues-it makes my eyes water, it’s so foul and fabulous, how can I explain myself?  This cheese is heinously delightful!  If you are looking for something that looks shocking on your cheese board and sets your throat on spicy fire, look no further.  Shropshire Blue, I dig you, but I’m weird, you my friend, are my slice of cheese.

Cheese 121-Grey Owl

Do you ever get obsessed with something?  I’m sure that any reader of this blog would not be surprised that I do- and that in fact, the thing that I get obsessed with (along with impractical shoes) is cheese.  Specific cheese.  I will read an article or review on a cheese, and it will become stuck in my head…I must have it!  But sometimes, this is easier said than done.  Artisinal cheese is simply not always available.  Many cheeses are only produced at certain times of the year, and depending on how much aging a cheese needs, it’s only released ever so often.  Consider an 8 year old cheddar, it needs to wait around (hiding) for eight years before going on sale.  This is cruel!

One of my little cheese obsessions (and I say here, one-as there are-in fact, many) has been a Canadian cheese that has eluded me now for months, Grey Owl.  Every time I go to look for it, they are “just out…” “oh, we just sold the last of it,” the cheese monger will cruelly utter…seriously, it’s a conspiracy.  I’m not sure if I have been clear enough here, I NEED this cheese.  It is first, a goat’s milk cheese, and second, it’s Canadian, and lastly, it references history!  It’s a freaking cheese Yahtzee.  But still, no Grey Owl for Willow, until finally, last week.  I purchased the last remaining piece from a local store, and this little darling is mine, oh yes-all mine-not that anyone else in my family would touch it with a ten foot pole-but still, it is all mine.

Grey Owl is a goat’s milk cheese made by the Fromagerie Le Détour in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec by the husband and wife team of Ginette Bégin and Mario Quirion.  Interestingly, my husband and I only make children together, imagine how lucky these folk are! Yet another cheese from Quebec.  Seriously, they are making the rest of Canada look bad.  Just saying.   Grey Owl is a really new cheese, first sold in the USA only in 2007, and here in Canada in early 2008.  The name Grey Owl, of course-as any good Canadian knows, is a nod to the story of Archie Belaney, AKA “Grey Owl” who was one of the first champions for the conservation of nature in Canada.  Grey Owl lived in the region where this fromagerie now stands, so there’s actually a local connection here to the name.  Of course, there’s also a pun in the name, as there is in all the best cheeses.  This cheese is rolled in ash, and is thus grey…hardy har!

The milk for Grey Owl cheese is pasteurized (sadly) and comes from Saanen goats-Swiss goats who live near the dairy, but not on site. Now a word on ash and goat’s milk cheese, the two go together regularly, and do offer a beautiful contrast between the bright white of a goat’s milk cheese and the dark grey ash coating.  When you see these two together, you know you have a goat’s milk cheese.  Historically this was done to protect the young cheese from insects, and also help produce a rind for a fragile cheese.  The ash is totally edible, and I like to think that it is somewhat medicinal, as we used to feed our dogs charcoal.  I have no basis of fact for this, it’s just something I like to think.  In truth, the ash can counter the lemony tang present in goat’s milk, as it tends to act as an alkaline.

My little coveted wedge of Grey Owl waits for me here at my desk.  It has collapsed into a wet heart-shaped piece of cheese as it warms up and starts to ooze.  It is both hideous and beautiful.  The grey ash seems counter-intuitive to my taste buds who typically do not search out the colour grey, but the white oozing interior beckons me…eat me…eat me.The exterior, just under the rind, has ripened and is sticky and glistens: the interior core, white and chalky.  The smell is mild yet undeniably present.  ”Yes, I am a goat cheese,” it whispers, “I am proud.”  My mouth squirts with anticipation.

Here goes…

Ohhhhh.  It’s delicious!  It’s surpassingly mild, I was expecting more of a goat kick.  It’s really well-balanced.  Really, the texture is the show-stopper for me, I can’t get enough of the sticky outer layer mixed with the rind and chalky core, it makes me crazy!  It sticks to my tongue and teeth.  The cheese itself is really chilled out, the lemon taste is present yet dialed back.  There’s the faintest peppery kick at the finish, but mostly it’s a creamy, ever so slightly goaty cheese. This one would be perfect smeared on something.  Baguette, a pear, a good friend!    The real Grey Owl was one of Canada’s first conservationists, and in his honour, I shall also conserve this little darling for me and me alone!