In just a few decades, Quebec has turned into a veritable cheese Mecca of North America. Some of the province's cheeses are inspired by the great European brands, others are entirely unique.
BY HUGO PARADIS
Open a package of Lechevalier Mailloux cheese, and the powerful aroma permeates the room. Put a slice of it in your mouth, and you get the sensation of an incredible floral explosion. This is a masterpiece of a cheese that could easily stand up to some of the finest Old World cheeses.
Produced in Saint-Basile near Quebec City, Lechevalier Mailloux is a stellar example of the extraordinary cheeses coming out of Quebec these days. Crowned grand champion at the first annual Canadian Cheese Grand Prix in 1998, Lechevalier Mailloux went on to retain that title in both 1999 and 2000.
But then Luc Mailloux, the man who created Lechevalier Mailloux, is equal parts skilled artisan and exacting perfectionist. Before putting Saint-Basile - another of his masterful cheeses - on the market, he made more than 8,000 wheels of it, until he felt it was just right. After it came out, none other than the great Paul Bocuse himself declared he was unable to find its equal among French cheeses, so outstanding and unique is Saint-Basile.
While Mailloux's products are clearly exceptional, demand for Quebec cheeses in general is growing, both inside and outside the province. Whether made with milk from cows, goats or ewes, Quebec cheeses are appearing on the shelves of upscale grocery stores, on the menus of top chefs across North America, and on the dinner tables of the most demanding connoisseurs.
"Who would have ever thought that one day there'd be nearly as many Quebec cheeses in our supermarkets as there are imported ones?" reads the cover blurb on Jules Roiseux's guide to the province's cheeses, Guide complet des fromages du Québec. "And that many of our cheeses, especially our raw-milk cheeses, would be served in the finest restaurants in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York?"
From small-scale craft outfits to sizeable producers, cheesemaking operations have sprouted like mushrooms in Quebec in the last few decades - "a unique phenomenon in the world," Richard Bizier and Roch Nadeau state in their Répertoire des fromages du Québec (directory of Quebec cheeses). Bizier and Nadeau are among the many experts who say that no other part of North America produces so many fine cheeses.
Quebec's superb cheeses are the result of a combination of high-quality milk and the inventiveness and skill of local craftsmen. Some cheeses were inspired by the most famous French and European cheeses, but others are entirely original. For example, Quebec producers might rub their cheeses with strong Quebecois beer, wash them with mead or smoke them with maple wood.
They tend to give their cheeses witty names, or names that pay homage to the beauty or history of a region: Migneron de Charlevoix, Pied-De-Vent from the Îles de la Madeleine, Coureur des Bois from Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Riopelle de l'Île from Île aux Grues, Diable aux Vaches from Mont-Laurier, Fumirolle from Côte de Beaupré, Sieur Corbeau des Laurentides, and Tarapatapom from Knowlton are just a few examples.
Slow to GrowCheesemaking has a long history in Quebec. In fact Canadian cheesemaking began here after Jacques Cartier brought the first French cows to New France in 1541. But an industry as such didn't really get off the ground until the 19th century, when craftsmen in Quebec and across Canada gradually began to make cheese.
In 1850, a farm in Sault-au-Récollet, Que., started producing Crème de Beloeil, a sort of Quebecois Camembert. In 1893, the monks of Oka began turning out cheeses that are today among the most esteemed of Quebec cheeses. In 1895, Fromagerie Perron was founded, and is still in operation (its original building, classified as a historic monument, now houses a museum). A few years later, the Benedictine monks of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac and the nuns of Mont-Laurier also began making cheese.
But the proliferation of cheesemaking establishments, especially small-scale artisan operations, has been a much more recent trend. André Fouillet, author of À la découverte des fromageries du Québec, which covered more than 70 Quebec cheese producers when it was published in 1998, attributes the phenomenon chiefly to growing demand from Quebecers. "They had begun to travel a lot more, especially to France, where they discovered there were all sorts of products of the soil," he says. "And they started wondering why there was so little of that kind of thing back home."
Today Quebecers have precious little to complain about on that score. The number of local cheeses has multiplied and the province now boasts some 100 cheese producers scattered throughout every region (La Route gourmande des fromages fins du Québec brochure lists about 50 of the producers). Some establishments offer tours and others don't, but all will open their doors to anyone who wants to taste or buy some cheese. Following is a sampling of fromageries.
Cheese, Please
Fromagerie La Ferme au Village: 45, Notre-Dame Ouest, Lorrainville (Abitibi), (819) 625-2255. Try Le Cru du Clocher, a succulent aged cheddar made with raw milk.
Les Fromages de l'Érablière: 1580 Eugène-Trinquier, Mont-Laurier (Laurentians), (819) 623-3459. Try Le Cru des érables, a raw-milk cheese ripened with an "acéritif" (aperitif made with maple water).
Fromagerie Oka: 1400 Chemin Oka, Oka (Laurentians), (450) 479-6396. The first-ever fine Quebec cheeses were made at this Trappist monastery in 1893.
La Biquetterie: 470 Route 315, Chénéville (Outaouais), (819) 428-3061. Try their exquisite hand-ladled goat's cheeses.
Chèvrerie les Trois Clochettes: 840 Rivière Sud, Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan (Lanaudière), (450) 588-5080. Famous for its goat's cheese, ripened in vine leafs.
Fromagerie du Champ à la Meule: 3601 Principale, Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes (Lanaudière), (450) 753-9217. Makers of Victor et Berthold, one of the most celebrated of Quebec cheeses.
Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser: 459 4e Concession, Noyan (Montérégie), (450) 294-2207. Cheeses include La Tomme de M. Séguin, made with half goat's milk and half cow's milk.
Fromagerie Au gré des champs: 400 Rang Saint-Édouard, Saint-Athanase (Montérégie), (450) 346-8732. Try: Au gré des champs and D'Iberville, raw-milk cheeses made with milk from cows fed on certified-organic wildflowers and grasses.
Saint-Benoît-du-Lac Abbey: Saint-Benoît-du-Lac (Eastern Townships), (819) 843-4336 or 1-877-343-4336 toll-free. Steeped in history, and as famous for its setting as its many cheeses.
Fromage Côté: 80 Rue Hôtel-de-ville, Warwick (Bois-Francs), (819) 358-3300. Specializes in washed-rind cheeses, including Cantonnier de Warwick and Sir Laurier d'Arthabaska.
Bergerie La Moutonnière: 3690 Rang No 3, Sainte-Hélène-de-Chester (Bois-Francs), (819) 382-2300. Billed as the first and only farm to make ewe's-milk cheeses on site.
Ferme Piluma: 150 Rang Sainte-Angélique, Saint-Basile (Quebec City area), (418) 329-3080. Makes some of Quebec's greatest cheeses, including Lechevalier Mailloux, Saint-Basile, Ange Cornu and Sarah-Brizou.
Fromagerie Île-aux-Grues: 210 Chemin du Roy, Île aux Grues (Chaudière-Appalaches), (418) 248-5842. Try Mi-Carême, a raw-milk soft cheese, and Riopelle de l'Île, named after the illustrious painter who often vacationed on the island.
Maison d'affinage Maurice Dufour: 1339 Mgr de Laval, Baie-Saint-Paul (Charlevoix), (418) 435-5692. Makes Migneron (winner of the 2002 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix) and Ciel de Charlevoix, a heavenly raw-milk blue cheese.
Fromagerie Perron: 156 av. Albert-Perron, Saint-Prime (Lac-Saint-Jean), (418) 251-3164. Venerable producer of an internationally renowned cheddar.
Ferme Chimo: 1705 Boul. de Douglas, Gaspé (Gaspésie), (418) 368-4102. Makes "unique goat's milk cheeses."Fromagerie du Pied-De-Vent: 149 Chemin de la Pointe-Basse, Havre-aux-Maisons, Îles de la Madeleine, (418) 969-9292. Makers of the famous Pied-De-Vent cheese.
source: Canadian Tourism Commision
This reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor has it been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Canadian Tourism Commission.
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