Historic Crystal Palace and the Picton Fairgrounds will make for quite a mouth-watering scene on June 4-5. That’s when the first-ever Great Canadian Cheese Festival takes place, bringing together the country’s leading cheesemakers from coast-to-coast so cheese lovers can meet to learn, talk, taste and buy the best in artisan, farmstead and specialty cheese – and sample fine wine, craft beer, cider and artisanal foods.
The two-day Festival features:
On Saturday, June 4, a keynote presentation to kick off proceedings, a full day of cheese-tasting seminars, pairing cheese with wine, beer and cider, a buffet lunch and in the evening, outstanding chefs using cheese to create tasting dished for the Cooks & Curds Cheese Gala.
On Sunday, June 5, a Cheese Fair & Artisan Cheese Market featuring more than 30 Canadian cheesemakers, more than 100 artisan and farmstead cheese to sample and purchase, winemakers and craft brewers offering tastings, too, plus a host of artisan food producers, with a tutored tasting of Canadian Cheese Grand Prix winners, a cheesemaking demonstration and whey more.
Plus: a six hour guided tour of local cheese plants and dairy farms on Friday or Saturday.
Bonus: On Friday, the Festival eve, cheese-themed dinner at County restaurants such as Angeline’s Restaurant & Inn featuring acclaimed chef Michael Potters
Tags: artisan cheese, Cheese Events, crystal palace, Great Canadian Cheese Festival, Invest In Cheese, picton, Prince Edward County
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Contributed by Karin Desveaux-Potters, Gastronomy Cluster, Economic Development Office
In an ideal world, everything always goes according to plan and nothing ever goes wrong. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world, and often the best we can do is to respond to unfortunate situations that arise swiftly and responsibly with tact and grace.
This is exactly how Petra Kassun-Mutch, founder of the Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company reacted when she discovered that very low levels of Listeria had been discovered in her state-of -the-art dairy in Cressy, Prince Edward County.
Often cited within the artisan cheese industry as an example of exemplary food safety protocols, the Fifth Town team has been able to work closely with inspection agencies in an efficient, highly professional way to rectify the problem as quickly as possible.
Petra’s messaging has been transparent and timely, providing the public with extensive information.
For all information and any updates, visit www.fifthtown.ca or call the dairy directly at 613.476.5755. In the meantime, the only cheese that has been affected and recalled is Rose Haus; all other Fifth Town cheese remain safe and a pleasure to eat.
Tags: Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company, food safety, Listeria, Prince Edward County, Rose Haus
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Contributed by Karin Desveaux-Potters, Gastronomy Cluster, Economic Development Office, Prince Edward County
Farming can be a difficult, often unreliable business and because of that, farmers are some of the best innovators out there. It is rare to find a farm with a single revenue source; more often than not farmers tend to have off-farm jobs or several revenue streams within their overall operations to make the whole thing work. Dairy farming is no exception.
In 2010, the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) piloted a project that encouraged and assisted dairy farms to add “on-farm processing” into their sales mix called “Project Farmgate”. Under this pilot project, select farms were assisted with market development support and staff resources to liaise with the provincial ministry for plant approvals in the pasteurization and processing of fluid milk, cheese and butter.
There is clearly a market for dairy products processed on-farm; buying cheese, butter or milk on the farm it was made at is pretty much the ultimate local food sourcing experience. With the current artisan food trends that focus on small batch, handcrafted products including artisan cheese, the timing couldn’t be better. The success of the pilot program was recognized at the DFO’s annual general meeting this past week when the organization opted to support on-farm processing in their current strategic plan. This is excellent news for existing dairy farms who want to transition into value-add opportunities such as farm gate sales of cheese, butter and fluid milk.
Dairy farms interested in the on-farm processing opportunity should contact the DFO for more information.
Tags: artisan, farm gate, farmers, innovators, local food, on-farm processing, Prince Edward County, value-add opportunities
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