Postcard from Quebec
I will start out for apologizing for an extra-long post with no hidden content. I am posting from a new computer that doesn't seem to have been completely set up. All of my settings are a-kilter and, naturally, I didn't realize my usual button to push was missing until my post was complete. Oops! Please bear with me.
It has been a bit quiet here in the last few days, mostly because many I know are at Pennsic. We, however, are not! Instead we are spending our vacation in lovely Montreal, Quebec attending the annual American Cheese Society conference.
I know. You wish you could be here. So do I - you would have a blast! :)
Yesterday we were part of a tour group that visited the Abbaye Saint-Benoit du Lac, a benedictine monastery. While we weren't allowed to see the dairy we did get an in-depth tour of the monastery with one of the resident monks as a guide. When I download the photos I'll try to remember to post some here, but in the meantime I'll offer you their website url.
http://www.st-benoit-du-lac.com/
This morning started an intense round of seminars. I attended:
Basic functionality of different starter culture types. I would have gotten more out of this if I were a microbiologist, it very quickly outpaced my high school level chemistry knowledge.
Do you have to stack it high to watch it fly? A panel with two cheese shop owners who described how they do business. One was a small shop owner from Chelsea Market in NYC, the other owns a very large store and two smaller shops in Montreal. Fascinating.
Biodiversity of artisanal cheeses: raw vs. pasteurized. This was a presentation by a leading expert in the field and showed some truly ground breaking research. The talk was sponsored by the USDA and they were careful to note at the beginning that the conclusions presented were the work and opinion of the scientist and not the USDA. Regardless, I hope they listen to him when they deliberate on regulating the raw/pasteurized cheesemaking industry. He presented the same thoughts I have had in regards to the industry. Keep both raw and pasteurized but bring the raw milk production side up to a certain standard of process and sanitation with proper HACCP plans and record keeping steps throughout the entire process.
Then did a "meet the cheesemaker" session where those cheesemakers who wished to represent their product interactively with the public could do so. Saw lots of old friends there and had the opportunity to discover new cheesemakers and products that are just being tested on the market now.
Shout out to Kendall the cheesemaker at Lark's Meadow cheese from Idaho! He's making some beautiful tomme style cheeses that will probably soon be hitting the scene in New Yawk Citay. Former microbiologist/dental student/now cheesemaker Kendall has created three lovely cheeses, and I can't for the life of me recall their names. He can be found at http://www.larksmeadowfarms.com/
Hmmm... I can't seem to see his website on my computer at the moment, but that could just be setup problems. We don't Do Windoze in this household and sometimes websites need a little encouragement to run properly on this end.
Seana from Bleating Heart Dairy in Sebastopol, CA is doing wonderful things with milk. While being new on the scene and still building her flock of laucune/friesian sheep she is turning out some really wonderful, handcrafted sheep and cow's milk truckle sized cheeses - also with a carefully tended natural rind! If you live in the SF Bay area ask for her products.
http://www.bleatingheart.com/
It looks like the newest trend in the US is developing the natural rind. Now that we've figured out how to make gouda and lovely goat milk cheeses our cheesemakers are looking for the next challenge. Most customers and a lot of uninitiated cheese retailers are put off by a lovely grey/white powdery natural rind, little do they know how difficult they are to produce and the wonderful things they do for a cheese and it's flavor. If you want to find a comparable cheese in your local market look for Tomme de Crayeuse or Tomme de Haut Savoie, both from France.
It has been a bit quiet here in the last few days, mostly because many I know are at Pennsic. We, however, are not! Instead we are spending our vacation in lovely Montreal, Quebec attending the annual American Cheese Society conference.
I know. You wish you could be here. So do I - you would have a blast! :)
Yesterday we were part of a tour group that visited the Abbaye Saint-Benoit du Lac, a benedictine monastery. While we weren't allowed to see the dairy we did get an in-depth tour of the monastery with one of the resident monks as a guide. When I download the photos I'll try to remember to post some here, but in the meantime I'll offer you their website url.
http://www.st-benoit-du-lac.com/
This morning started an intense round of seminars. I attended:
Basic functionality of different starter culture types. I would have gotten more out of this if I were a microbiologist, it very quickly outpaced my high school level chemistry knowledge.
Do you have to stack it high to watch it fly? A panel with two cheese shop owners who described how they do business. One was a small shop owner from Chelsea Market in NYC, the other owns a very large store and two smaller shops in Montreal. Fascinating.
Biodiversity of artisanal cheeses: raw vs. pasteurized. This was a presentation by a leading expert in the field and showed some truly ground breaking research. The talk was sponsored by the USDA and they were careful to note at the beginning that the conclusions presented were the work and opinion of the scientist and not the USDA. Regardless, I hope they listen to him when they deliberate on regulating the raw/pasteurized cheesemaking industry. He presented the same thoughts I have had in regards to the industry. Keep both raw and pasteurized but bring the raw milk production side up to a certain standard of process and sanitation with proper HACCP plans and record keeping steps throughout the entire process.
Then did a "meet the cheesemaker" session where those cheesemakers who wished to represent their product interactively with the public could do so. Saw lots of old friends there and had the opportunity to discover new cheesemakers and products that are just being tested on the market now.
Shout out to Kendall the cheesemaker at Lark's Meadow cheese from Idaho! He's making some beautiful tomme style cheeses that will probably soon be hitting the scene in New Yawk Citay. Former microbiologist/dental student/now cheesemaker Kendall has created three lovely cheeses, and I can't for the life of me recall their names. He can be found at http://www.larksmeadowfarms.com/
Hmmm... I can't seem to see his website on my computer at the moment, but that could just be setup problems. We don't Do Windoze in this household and sometimes websites need a little encouragement to run properly on this end.
Seana from Bleating Heart Dairy in Sebastopol, CA is doing wonderful things with milk. While being new on the scene and still building her flock of laucune/friesian sheep she is turning out some really wonderful, handcrafted sheep and cow's milk truckle sized cheeses - also with a carefully tended natural rind! If you live in the SF Bay area ask for her products.
http://www.bleatingheart.com/
It looks like the newest trend in the US is developing the natural rind. Now that we've figured out how to make gouda and lovely goat milk cheeses our cheesemakers are looking for the next challenge. Most customers and a lot of uninitiated cheese retailers are put off by a lovely grey/white powdery natural rind, little do they know how difficult they are to produce and the wonderful things they do for a cheese and it's flavor. If you want to find a comparable cheese in your local market look for Tomme de Crayeuse or Tomme de Haut Savoie, both from France.