Canadienne Eh?

I am often asked about what my favourite cheese is and that is really a hard question to answer but if I was pressed, Le 1608 would be on my top 5 list. It really is on a level all by itself – both the cheese and the history behind it. The breed, Les Canadiennes descended from the cattle brought to New France from Brittany and Normandy in approximately 1608. A hardy, resilient breed, it was becoming endangered until a farmer in the Charlevoix region of Quèbec starting building the herd back and making cheese from its milk. The cheese is quite simply fantastique! It is done in the traditional method of cheesemaking in France of washing the rind (think Oka, Époisse, Niagara Gold) during the maturation period creating a semi-firm cheese with a pale orange rind and a creamy-coloured paste, smooth, nutty and a finish that lingers in the mouth. Also in the case this week, from the same cheesemaker is Fleurmier, a bloomy-rind, Camembert-style cheese. Canadienne eh? Mais oui!