When you speak about American Cheese Month, people will often assume that you mean cheeses from the United States. And in fairness, that is generally the focus of the cheeses that get featured and the events that take place during the month of October. But the American Cheese Society, which started American Cheese Month, actually encompasses â in their representation, membership and competition â cheeses from both north and south of the border, including cheesemakers from Canada, Mexico and other countries in Central America. As they describe it, ACM is âa celebration of North Americaâs delicious and diverse cheesesâ, and that includes much more than just the 50 states with the stars and stripes flying above them.
So in the spirit of #AmericanCheeseMonth, I recommend Montreal, Quebec, as a perfect place to experience all the lactic wonders that are occurring just a few hours north of New York City. The 2011 ACS conference took place in Montreal, and it was at my first ACS conference, in Raleigh, North Carolina, that I first encountered a wider selection of Quebecois cheeses, including some that I immediately fell in love with, like the Grey Owl and Magie de Madawaska from Fromagerie Le Detour. Â One of my instructors at the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese, Marie-Chantal Houde â cheesemaker at Fromagerie Nouvelle France â also helped to open my eyes to the variety of cheeses coming from Quebec.
Itâs often remarked that Montreal is as much European as it is Canadian in personality and culture. Not only do the cobblestoned streets, francophile signage and roads crowded with cyclists evoke the streets of a French city, but Montreal is a city that embraces the culinary and offers a wealth of opportunities for eating and exploring, forging a unique path, marrying the old world with the new and becoming renowned for both its fine dining and its world famous smoked meats and bagels, and some great craft beers from breweries like Dieu du Ciel! and others. Fromage has certainly been a key part of this equation.
The laws regarding cheese production and import are more relaxed in Quebec than they are in other Provinces. Raw milk cheeses are legal for import and sale in Montreal, and one can find Loire Valley goatâs milk cheeses and gooey washed rinds from France that are aged less than the 60 days. Until recently the 60-Day rule was the law of all of Canada (and still applies in the other Provinces).Â
While regulations, particularly regarding sanitation and hygiene in the cheese plant, are still much stricter than they are in France â and Quebecois cheesemakers do sometimes speak of the fearsome health regulators in hushed tones â there is more leeway regarding the length of aging for raw milk cheeses, and recognition of thermized (lightly pasteurized) milk as a separate category (unlike the U.S., where anything less than total pasteurization is considered raw).
There are many wonderful cheese shops around the city, but on my recent trip, I was only able to visit one of the top sites: the Marche Jean-Talon, in the Little Italy neighborhood. This massive market features a green market at its core, and a wide variety of shops, restaurants and cafes around the periphery.
On the cheese front, three shops stand out: Fromage Fermiers, Qui Lait Cru, and La Fromagerie Hamel.
Fromage Fermiers, the smallest, is a stand that focuses mostly on the cheeses of the Province, providing cheeses from cheesemakers like Fromagerie La Maison Grise, Fromagerie de LâAtelier, Chèvrerie Fruit Dâune Passion. The cheesemongers at this counter are passionate about their small but well-curated selection, and can provide a wealth of information about the cheeses and makers.
Qui Lait Cru has a punny name, playing off the expression âqui l'eut cru?â â essentially âwho'da thunk it?â, but with âlaitâ â âmilkâ â in there, it turns into âwho'da raw milk?â instead (it sounds less clunky in French, trust me). QLC offers a large selection, including an extensive selection from Quebecois producers, but also a variety of French and other European cheeses, as well as an occasional American cheese.
La Fromagerie Hamel is the grandmaster of Fromagerie/Affinage in Montreal: in operation for 50 years, The main shop is at Jean-Talon, but they have several locations around the city. Their focus is on French cheeses, with an excellent assortment of cheeses from Quebec and elsewhere as well. It was here that I found a beautiful selection of raw milk Loire Valley cheeses, hand-selected and affinaged by Hamel in their own caves, under the Le Pic label. On the day that I visited there were three Quebec cheesemakers sampling their wheels, from Fromagerie âIle-aux-Grues, Fromagerie Lehmann, and Fromagerie MĂŠdard.
Unfortunately, cheeses of the province are quite difficult to come by in the US. Thanks to regulatory and financial hurdles that have come into effect more recently, the selection of Canadian cheeses is pretty slim and often limited to more âmainstreamâ varieties. The artisan cheeses of Canada tend not to come to us very often, so if you see them, snatch them up!
The cheese-loving citizens of Montreal are just discovering the cheeses from south of their border as well: In a conversation with our waitress at Bouillon Bilk (a restaurant which I highly recommend), the topic of American cheeses came up, and she noted that she had recently gone down to New Orleans and, during a meal at Bacchanal, encountered several American cheeses that had really impressed her. It was with some amusement that I noted that a few of the cheeses she mentioned came from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, an area so close to the border, that half the radio stations one picks up on a back-roads drive there, are in French.
This trip was just the beginning of my exploration of the Quebec cheese plate, as I only had a day to dash amongst a few cheese shops and gobble down as much as I could (as well as smuggling some back across the border, shhhhâŚ). In the near future I hope to go back and visit the cheesemakers as well, particularly the area along the St Lawrence River that is home to many of the best-known fromageries. Check out the Route de Fromages if youâd like to do some exploring of your own.
Over the next few posts Iâll be featuring some of the cheeses I tried or brought back with me, stay tuned!
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