And The Winner Is….

Last week was the 2023 edition of the SIAL International Cheese Contest in Toronto. There were a total of 231 entries from 8 countries and EIGHTEEN gold medals were won by Canadian Artisanal Cheeses! This says something pretty important about the quality of our artisanal cheese industry and another thing that Canadians do VERY well! The Grand Champion was Wildwood made by Stonetown. Stonetown was founded in 1996 by the combination of the talents of the Weber Family and Ramon Eberle, immigrants from Switzerland who started a dairy farm in St. Mary’s, Ontario with 250 Holstein cattle. Ramon is a Master Cheesemaker and the Weber’s had much experience in the dairy farming area. Wildwood is just one of the cheeses that they produce from the milk of their herd (also in stock at CCP is Homecoming) and is based on a Swiss Apenzeller. The outside is rubbed with a foraged blend of herbs producing an aromatic cheese, rich, creamy texture despite being a harder cheese. Great with red wine, as a grilled cheese – maybe even as part of a Raclette serving. It is made with unpasteurized milk.