2. Sylvan star 'Grizzly' cheese
I find myself in Canada right now.
Canada is not exactly known for his cheeses. Coming from Belgium, close to France and Switzerland, we have few reasons for grasping across the ocean for cheese. In fact I don't think I've ever had any in ole Belgium. Therefore I'm superexcited when I come across true Canadian cheeses. A chance to truely try something new.
I stumbled across my first artisanal cheese farm on a farmers market in Edmonton, where I'm staying for a few months. At first I wasn't really impressed with his different kinds of pre wrapped gouda's and cheddars, nothing new I thought. But the owner saw our interest and lured us in for a taste of his award winning Grizzly cheese. Man oh man what a ride. He had me sold at the first bite, the friendly and witty manner the man talked about his products was just a little extra.
Lets talk about this 'Grizzly'. An extra aged gouda, riped for 14 months, ending up in a cheese that is hard, legitly hard. In fact see what happened when I tried to cut my bought hunk of Grizzly (with a steak knife).
Wow! Cheese 1 - Knife 0!
Not an easy girl this grizzly. But as soon as it hits your mouth the rough animal becomes a silky sweet angel. Try imagining a hard lump of gold that just melts away in your mouth, with a creamy nutty flavour. Honestly this reminded me alot of a salty dark chocolate, the same hard texture with an intense rich flavour. It even had some crystals in there for a bit of a crunch while you're enjoying. Oh I could just eat this baby everyday! Big kudos to Sylvan Star Cheese out Red Deer, Alberta, for creating this award winning masterpiece!