Well, summer time is festival time and the Stirling Water Buffalo Festival was held this past Saturday August 28th.
It was a festive day with not a cloud in the sky and Karin Desveaux-Potters, Andrew Redden and I were ready to meet the cheese loving masses at the Invest in Cheese booth.
Evidently interest in artisanal cheese-making is experiencing a renaissance. We met amateur cheesemakers from Port Perry to Perth interested in making cheese. Some are already doing it in their kitchens; others have purchased farms to do so and want to know how to start up. Great to talk to a business owner who is excited about branching out to make cheese in an old cheese factory in Hastings County.
Good thing we will be launching “How to Startup a Cheesemaking Operation in Eastern Ontario”: a digital A-Z for anyone curious about what it takes to live the dream of making artisanal cheese.
Be sure to contact Invest in Cheese to get on the email list for updates.
Contributed by Galen Newman – Invest in Cheese Team
Tags: artisan cheese, Eastern Ontario, Hastings County, water buffalo
Posted in Cheese, Cheese Events |
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I just returned from an exciting meeting in Madoc with some of our local farmers. They are responding to our Invest in Cheese campaign and want to be part of a new goat cheese processing operation.
To summarize, we currently have in our area three farms that are milking goats and want to combine their upwards of 400 goats to provide more than 100,000 litres of milk a year to a cheese making operation. All three are interested in partnering with a local existing, or new, cheese making operation as they see the enormous potential here in this region of Ontario.
Do you have the passion and dream? Why not set up here and use local milk from local farmers. Contact us today as we’re moving ahead!
Contributed by Andrew Redden – Invest in Cheese Team
Tags: Goat, Hastings County, investment opportunity
Posted in Cheese |
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Formally known as the Ontario Water Buffalo Company, farmers Martin Littkemann and Lori Smith introduced their herd of Water Buffalo to Ontario’s Artisan Cheese Region at their farm near Stirling in Hastings County about two years ago. They soon became the first to milk water buffalo in Ontario and claim to own the largest milk-producing herd in North America.
Unlike Canada, water buffalo are widely found in Italy where they are part of everyday agriculture. According to Harvest Hastings’s website, in Italy 300,000 water buffalo are milked compared to only 250,000 holsteins in Ontario. A reason why might be that milk from water buffalo is easily digestible for people with lactose intolerance and other dairy related issues. This is quickly being discovered here in Canada.
What really gets our attention is the fact that the milk from these animals is currently being processed into specialty cheeses including mozzarella di bufala. If you would like to try some, on August 28th you can attend Stirling’s Water Buffalo Food Festival featuring a street meal with talented chefs serving dishes with this cheese as well as ricotta and scamorza.
For more information, you can download the poster here. Look for our Invest in Cheese Ambassadors who will be there enjoying this cheese as well!
Contributed by Andrew Redden – Invest in Cheese Team
Tags: artisan cheese, Eastern Ontario, Hastings County
Posted in Cheese |
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All things Water Buffalo
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