A new lover: a new cheese favourite

I took a quick mid-summer tour of the Niagara region for a sampling of its food and wonderful wine recently.

For food-lovers in Waterloo Region, we have to see that we are quite lucky that we are only an hour or so from some of the most amazing and bountiful terrain in the province, if not the country. I like to think it’s our backyard and that by supporting the Niagara wine industry–the fruit growers and the vintners alike–we’re helping the entire Ontario economy. It’s an interconnection that we need to continue to build.

But I want to add another flavour to the great Ontario wineries we have access to, despite the monopolistic machinations of our beloved LCBO. I’m talking cheese: For turophiles out there, I hereby want it known that I have added another favourite Ontario cheese to my list, and this one is made by the rather grand sounding Upper Canada Cheese Company in Jordan Station.

Cottage Gold, on first glance, had me immediately thinking of Beemster Gouda, a terrific cheese of Dutch origin for which I have a fairly long-standing amorousness; this Niagara cheese, however, has me thinking about taking another lover. Sorry, Beemster, but this Niagara cheese is better, I believe, for a couple of reasons. First, I like to think of it as a local cheese; and, second, it has a subtler taste while offering a tremendous texture and mouth-feel. There are hints of calcium lactate protein crystals, which I adore by the way.

Upper Canada describes the cheese as an Oka style, and that is probably accurate. A semi-soft, rind-washed cheese Cottage Gold has an orangey rind that is meaty and delicious to eat and a yellowy-orange paste that is smooth, nutty and buttery–except for those few crystals. It is made non-mechanically using traditional methods and is aged five months. I simply loved it with a glass of Featherstone Estate Winery ’09 VQA Gemstone Gamay.

A breed relatively rare in Canada, the Guernsey cow helps Upper Canada Cheese Company make luscious Cottage Gold. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

As for the cows helping produce Cottage Gold, the Upper Canada website says the Canadian Guernsey cows, owned by the Comfort family whose farming roots date to the late-18th century, produce milk high in butter fat and protein but teat-out half the milk of Holsteins, resulting “in a uniquely golden-shaded, flavourful milk with distinct local characteristics which is ideal for cheesemaking.”

The Cottage Gold is seasonal–which makes it all the more special–and clocks in at about $55/kg. It is worth every penny–and many of the pennies together go to supporting local farming and the Ontario economy as a whole.

That’s the way I like to eat. But it also goes hand-in-hand with the idea of connecting us all through our food.