So much cheese, we are almost a fromagerie! Fresh deliveries are always arriving! Call or visit our store to ensure your favourites are in stock — our selection changes weekly. You can take a look here as well and see if your fave is in stock.
We are always adding to our foodies finds and we are so pleased to now be carrying specialty cheese from France, Switzerland, England and of course, artisanal cheese from Ontario and Quebec. We have tente de Moine from Switzerland, Epoisse & Morbier from France, Red Leicester & Double Gloucester from England…. yumma!!
Also in the fridge, Kristapsons smoked salmon which uses cold-smoking – the best way to treat any fish. By smoking on heat-that’s-almost-not, these super-succulent salmon conserve much more of the especially beneficial Omega 3 oils recommended by doctors to maintain good health. And empty party plates.
Tete de Moine – Cow’s Milk (Switzerland)
Tete de Moine was invented by monks at Bellelay Abbey, in the Bernese Jura mountains. ‘Tete de Moine’ means ‘monks head’ and derives from the tax levied by the abbey whereby the farmers would provide one cheese for each monk during the season.
The Swiss cheese is formed into the shape of a short cylinder. It has a firm, straw yellow paste and a spicy, fruity flavor and aroma. It is matured from four to six months and receives regular brine washings which produces a red sticky rind. Tete de Moine is often shaved using a special cutter called a ‘girolle’. Shaving the cheeses releases all the aroma and flavors. Sometimes it is eaten with pepper and powdered cumin.
Compliments: This cheese goes well as a fondue or melted into soup or pasta.
5 Year Cheddar Organic – BioBio Cheese – Cow’s Milk (Quebec, Canada)
A firm, rindless cheese made with organic milk. Its buttery aroma and hazelnut flavour become more pronounced with time. Aged 5 years and goes great with fresh fruit, salad, grated on pasta, sandwiches, fondue, and much more!
Chashel Blue – Irish Farmhouse Cheese – Cow’s Milk (Ireland)
By three months of maturation your Cashel Blue will have broken down to a richer, fuller and rounder flavour developing greater creaminess as it matures up to 6 months. The look: Cashel Blue has a white paste when young turning increasingly towards a buttery yellow as it matures. Throughout this paste there is a blueing often referred to as having marble-like pattern. The rind, which with time can develop a film of surface mould is untreated and is therefore edible.
Brillat Savrin – Cow’s Milk (France)
Brillat-Savarin is produced all year round and comes in 12-13 cm wheels, about 4 cm thick, and is aged for one to two weeks. It is a triple cream Brie that is luscious, creamy and faintly sour. It pairs well with Pale Ale and Champagne. The carbonation wipes the fattiness from the palate and the malts enhance the creaminess of the cheese.
Ciel De Charlevoix – Maison d’affinage Maurice Dufour inc. – Cow’s Milk (Quebec, Canada)
Semi-soft, blue-veined cheese. This cheese is a wonderful addition to your recipes. An excellent ingredient in sauces, it can top your favourite pastas or accompany a trout filet. 2009 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Champion, Blue-Veined Cheese category.
Comté PDO – Cow’s Milk (France)
Comté is produced in the Jura Massif where sharply contrasting seasons shape the region. Made exclusively from raw milk from Montbéliarde or Simmental cows, this hard cheese is matured for a minimum of four months, although some wheels mature for 18 or even 24 months. It takes an average of 450 litres of milk to make one wheel, and since the Middle Ages, producers from local villages have joined forces to pool their milk, thus creating “fruitières”, the equivalent of a cooperatives today.
Double Gloucester – Cow’s Milk (England)
A traditional, unpasteurized, semi-hard cheese made in Gloucestershire since the sixteenth century. The hard, natural rind has some gray-blue moulds and bears the marks of the cloth in which it is matured. It is firm and bitable, like hard chocolate. The color is pale tangerine and thecheese has a flavor of cheese and onions. Not as firm as Cheddar, it has a mellow, nutty character with an orange-zest tang.
Gouda XO – Cow’s Milk (Netherlands)
The five-year old version of this classic cheese is simply unrivaled for that perfect balance of salty and sweet flavors. Deep caramel in color, crunchy, flaky, and meltingly smooth on the tongue, a true cow’s milk Dutch Gouda bursts with flavor. The hint of butterscotch at the finish is a signature of this Dutch treat.
Gré des Champ – Fromagerie Au gré des champs – Cow’s Milk (Quebec, Canada)
A firm cheese with a natural rind aged three months and has a delightful nutty flavour.
Guernsey Girl – Upper Canada Cheese Company – Cow’s Milk (Ontario, Canada)
Meant to be heated, this Niagara region cheese is rich and creamy.
Morbier AOC – Cow’s Milk (France)
This rich and creamy semi-soft cheese is named after the village of Morbier in France. It is ivory colored, soft and slightly elastic, and is immediately recognizable by the black layer of tasteless ash separating it horizontally in the middle.
Red Leicester – Cow’s Milk (England)
This hard English cheese is similar to cheddar cheese, but crumblier. It has a firm texture, and a slightly nutty taste.
Le Riopelle de l’Isle – Fromargerie de L’Ile Aux Grues – Cow’s Milk (Quebec, Canada)
The Riopelle de l’Isle is a soft cheese made of fresh milk and cream. The Riopelle reveals a creamy and incredibly smooth centre beneath a thin, bloomy rind. Leaving an exquisite hint of butter, it is absolutely enchanting. The Riopelle is named after the world-renowned painter Jean-Paul Riopelle, who agreed to lend his name to the cheese as well as one of his masterpieces adorn the label.
Saint Nectaire – Cow’s Milk (France)
A circular cheese with an uncooked paste, pressed, salted, it has a distinctive bloomy rind. Made exclusively from the Salers cows’ milk, (a breed that produces very rich milk due to the volcanic pastures and aromatic flora of the region). Saint Nectaire has a creamy, dense texture with soft acidity and a delicate taste of hazelnuts and mushrooms. Beneath the grey rind, with white, yellow or red patches, is the pâte with creamy appearance and occasional residual holes.
Goat Milk Cheese
Basil Chèvre – Salt Spring Island Cheese Company – Goat’s Milk (British Columbia, Canada)
This flavoured soft cheese comes with basil layered on top of it. A splash of olive oil helps to infuse the flavour throughout the cheese. It goes especially well on a cheese plate, not only because of its distinctive look, but also because basil is a mild flavour that almost everybody enjoys. If you are in doubt as to the preferences of your guests or hosts, you can do a lot worse than serving or bringing a soft, fresh basil flavoured goat’s milk cheese.
Cape Vessey – Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company – Goat’s Milk (Ontario, Canada)
Grand Champion Goat Cheese at the 2008 Royal Winter Fair. Firm cheese with a pleasant chewy washed rind. Slightly salty, with complex aggressive flavours. Creamy on the palate with a rich flavourful finish. Excellent with fruity complex red wines such as bolder Pinot Noir and medium bodied Cabernet Franc and Merlot.
Blue Juliette – Salt Spring Island Cheese Company – Goat’s Milk (British Columbia, Canada)
Our blue Juliette is made essentially the same way as its whiter sister, but the blue one is made half with blue and half with white mould. It takes on a very mild blue taste and also grows softer and stronger as it ages. Like most blue cheeses it goes especially well with red wine. The best way to enjoy this cheese is by itself or on a cheese plate.
Flower Chèvre – Salt Spring Island Cheese Company – Goat’s Milk (British Columbia, Canada)
The flower chèvre is essentially our soft cheese without any additional flavouring. The flowers are edible but add no extra taste to the cheese. The result is a mild soft creamy goat cheese, with just a little more colour than one would expect to find on an ordinary dairy product. That’s ok though, because this chèvre deserves the extra attention the flowers bring it, even if we do say so ourselves.
Hot Chili Chèvre – Salt Spring Island Cheese Company – Goat’s Milk (British Columbia, Canada)
Cheese making has a rich history through many parts of the world. However, Thailand is not among them. Tai chilli flavoured goat cheese is therefore a rather unusual combination. This cheese has slowly but steadily climbed in popularity since it was introduced to our cheese line up in the late 90s. It is also now the favourite soft cheese among the majority of the cheese makers and staff at Salt Spring Island Cheese Company. We should warn you though, it is a little spicy.
Lemon Chèvre – Salt Spring Island Cheese Company – Goat’s Milk (British Columbia, Canada)
This lemon soft cheese is salty and sour and a big hit with the Salt Island Cheese Company after introducing it at their Saturday market. Why not give it a try and see what all the fuss is about?
Selles-sur-Cher (PDO) – Goat’s Milk (France)
Made from raw and whole goat’s milk, this truncated round cheese has been around for centuries. Hand-ladled into moulds, it is covered with a dusting of ash and salt. Ready to eat after a ten day ripening period, its rind develops a bluish mould after a few weeks. Its robust goat’s cheese taste reveals undertones of hay from the Cher Valley.
St. Jo Feta – Salt Spring Island Cheese – Goat’s Milk (British Columbia, Canada)
The St. Jo feta is a plain goats milk feta that does all things one would expect a feta to extremely well, like go into a Greek salad for example. However, what really distinguishes this feta from most of its brine-ripened kind is that it doesn’t fall flat on its face and embarrass itself on a cheese plate. It is flavoured with Kalamata olives and a blend of other herbs and rosemary. It is coated with olive oil too, and that helps the flavour to penetrate right to its core.
Tradition du Berry – Goat’s Milk (France)
A small, pyramid-shaped cheese made from pasteurized goat’s milk and coated with charcoal ash; its flavor is mellow, with a slight tang.
Sheep Milk Cheese
Bonnie and Floyd – Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company – Sheep’s Milk (Ontario, Canada)
Saint Paulin style washed rind cheese. Smooth paste with complex yet mild mineral flavours. Slightly salty near rind with refined nutty, almost sweet lactic flavours near centre. Excellent with lighter red wines such as Pinot Noir.
Eweda Cru – Best Baa Dairy – Sheep’s Milk (Ontario, Canada)
Also beginning with a traditional gouda recipe, this raw milk cheese is aged for a minimum 9 months. Each cylinder is marked with information pertaining to the producer of the milk used. This creates traceability and accountability for the quality of each wheel.The paste is a pale yellow with many small holes. The texture is slightly crumbly yet smooth on the tongue. Its rich, earthy aroma leads beautifully towards an explosive, complex flavour. When savoured, Eweda Cru is nutty at first, then grassy with a lingering finale of creamy freshness.
Ossau-Iraty – Sheep’s Milk (France)
This thousand-year old ewe’s milk cheese evolved from pastoral farming in the region. It was used as a currency in many 14th century sales or tenancy contracts, as cheese was the first source of revenue for shepherds. This cheese keeps for a long time and is traditionally served with black cherry jam, although some enthusiasts advise trying it with quince paste
