I have a confession to make, when I was a little girl I hated cheese! Even my Mom's homemade Macaroni and Cheese wasn't a favorite of mine. I can empathize when little ones come into the store and cringe when I offer them a sample because that was me a few years ago - OK, maybe just a little more than a few years ago, but just a little! And it wasn't such a long time ago that I thought that I didn't like blue cheese....until one time I selected a little morsel from a cheese tray that was delicious. I went back for more and then when no one was looking, took the whole piece! It was later that I discovered that this was indeed blue cheese and once I got the tang, well suffice it to say that I haven't looked back.
Today's topic is the magnificent blue cheese from a small cheese maker in Québec, Fromagerie du Presbytère just east of Drummondville. Le Bleu d'Elizabeth is the second cheese to come from Fromagerie du Presbytère and won a gold medal in 2009 at the Québec Seléction Caseus awards! This says a lot about the quality of cheese making and the skill of the cheese makers, brothers Jean and Dominique Morin who are fourth generation farmers of this land. Le Bleu d'Elizabeth is a farmhouse cheese, meaning that the milk produced from the farm's mixed herd of Holstein's, Jersey's and a few Canadienne is the sole source of the milk used to make the cheese not only that but the farm has been organic for the past 20 years. The cheese itself is aged two to three months which produces a milder blue although the brothers are busy aging some of the cheese for 12 months for those who like a stronger blue kick.
Le Bleu d'Elizabeth is a raw milk cheese with full flavours of sour cream, butter and salt all balanced in a creamy paste that is melt-in-your-mouth delicious and not a bitter note to spoil the experience! To all of you who proclaim not to like blue cheese, this one may very well change your mind. Pair it with a glass of Cidre Glacé available at the LCBO and why not try Le Bleu d'Elizabeth ($8.00/100g) with an aged Comté ($7.70/100g) on your cheeseboard - a bit of Old World paired with the New!
It is of note that another cheese produced by Fromagerie du Presbytère, Louis d'Or won the gold medal at the Seléction Caseus in 2010 - 2 years in a row! We will be watching to see what masterpiece comes from this cheese maker in the future. And you can be sure that I will be adding Louis D'Or to the shopping list for "C'est Cheese Please!"
Bon Appetit!
