Alberta’s Cheesy Successes! by Natalie Findlay
Oh, cheese! Alberta honours your greatness, your truth, your ability to keep your tradition strong while expanding your global reach. You adopt new milks, new processes, new technology – and from Gruyere to Gouda to vegan, your appeal is part of the human condition – who doesn’t love cheese? As author Clifton Fadiman said, “Cheese: milk’s leap towards immortality.” Let’s take a look at how Alberta is cutting its cheese. The last bi-annual Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Awards took place in 2015, and were open to purely cow’s milk cheeses. Alberta cheeses took home top honours in four categories: –– Feta cheese from Tiras Dairies –– Medium Gouda from Sylvan Star –– Aged Gouda from Sylvan Star –– Natural smoked Gouda cheese from Sylvan Star This year, the Grand Prix Awards have joined forces with the Canadian Cheese
Awards, which are open to all cheeses produced in Canada using the pure milk of Canadian cows, goats, sheep, and water buffalo, and follow strict rules regarding artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, with no modified milk ingredients allowed. The aim is to honour cheese that has achieved technical excellence and exhibits the highest aesthetic qualities, while highlighting flavour, aroma, texture and taste. The finalists have been chosen, and the awards will be presented in June. Alberta’s 2018 finalists include: –– Feta/Cheese in Brine – A2 Cows Milk Feta by Crystal Springs –– Feta/Cheese in Brine – Goat Milk Feta by Crystal Springs –– Smoked Cheese – Gouda Natural Smoked by Sylvan Star –– Best Farmstead Cheese – Gouda Natural Smoke by Sylvan Star –– Best West Cheese – Gouda Natural Smoke by Sylvan Star While these companies have been awarded top billing from their industry peers, they are but a few of the producers of the cheesy excellence that Alberta has to offer.
Alberta is home to many excellent cheese makers producing over a hundred varieties of cheeses, all working at their craft of pleasing taste buds throughout the province. These cheese producers have gone on to capture ribbons in many fairs and cheese competitions, so be sure to try out their award winning cheeses. Fairwinds Farm is a certified organic goat farming operation in Fort Macleod producing mainly chèvre and feta. They don’t use hormones, and the goats are given access to pasture year round. Noble Meadows Farm in Nobleford makes plain, soft goat cheese that took top honours in the Best Farmstead Cheese category in the 2014 Canadian Cheese Awards. Alberta Cheese Company has been producing cheese in Calgary for more than 40 years! Tiras Dairies, in Camrose, turns milk into feta and saganaki cheese. The Old School Cheesery produces Cheddar cheeses in their store, just outside Vermilion.
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