As promised: Bagged Milk

[Sabrina]

I love cheese, all kind, fresh or old. I would like to have more cheese made from raw sheep milk. Up to now I could only find Pecorino Romano that fits the bill. I wonder how they allow it in Canada. All other cheese are made from pasteurized milk. I buy Greek or Bulgarian feta. Canadian feta is not good at all, it's almost like cardboard.
Most of the cheese I buy is Italian or French (France).

 

[TGee]

I love cheese, all kind, fresh or old. I would like to have more cheese made from raw sheep milk. Up to now I could only find Pecorino Romano that fits the bill. I wonder how they allow it in Canada. All other cheese are made from pasteurized milk. I buy Greek or Bulgarian feta. Canadian feta is not good at all, it's almost like cardboard.
Most of the cheese I buy is Italian or French (France).

Canada allows raw milk cheeses to be imported as well as pasteurized cheeses with live cultures. This includes sheep and goat cheeses, not just cow.

There were proposals in the 1990s to ban raw milk cheeses in general, but it's a big domestic artisanal industry. So, it carries on, but labelling is required to indicate when a cheese is made with raw/unpasteurized milk. And there are public health advisories to avoid feeding raw milk cheeses to pregnant women and young children.

Another imported raw milk sheep's cheeses we use is Bulgarian Kashkaval -- but it's hard to find outside of ethnic speciality food stores.

But there are a large number of domestic raw milk sheep's cheeses, including blue, produced in small quantities, especially in Quebec, but there are small producers in Ontario too. No worries about lack of taste. You might even find a bryndzia/feta with a bit more bite if you go beyond the supermarket offerings.

See:

http://fromagesduquebec.qc.ca/en/cheeses/sheep-milk

 

[solani]

Dairy lovers (and apologies to the dairy haters and lactose intolerant) I discovered a new to me cheese called Red Fox. It was delicious. Highly recommended if you like old cheeses.

It could be lactose free. Old cheese often is, only small traces of lactose remain after the ripening.
I read somewhere that when Greece joined the EU, the diary processes changed and many people got an intolerance to products they had eaten for ages, because of new dairy processes.

 

[TGee]

It could be lactose free. Old cheese often is, only small traces of lactose remain after the ripening.
I read somewhere that when Greece joined the EU, the diary processes changed and many people got an intolerance to products they had eaten for ages, because of new dairy processes.

That's wild...

I don't think that the processes for small artisanal cheeses made in Canada have changed...

Not sure if any of it gets exported, but the Charlevoix region (of recent G-7 fame) has a number of really wonderful and unique cheeses that are well aged.

http://laiteriecharlevoix.com/english/1608.html

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.the.../le-migneron-charlevoix-cheese/article791795/

 

[Sabrina]

Another imported raw milk sheep's cheeses we use is Bulgarian Kashkaval -- but it's hard to find outside of ethnic speciality food stores.

10 years ago I could find both Romanian and Bulgarian Kashcval/Cashcaval. But they disappeared, and I haven't seen them anywhere for a long time. All that is available is Krinos brand, but though it's not bad it's not as good as the originals. First of all Krinos uses pasteurized milk, and a little more salt, and that, probably, makes the difference.

 

[solani]

10 years ago I could find both Romanian and Bulgarian Kashcval/Cashcaval. But they disappeared, and I haven't seen them anywhere for a long time. All that is available is Krinos brand, but though it's not bad it's not as good as the originals. First of all Krinos uses pasteurized milk, and a little more salt, and that, probably, makes the difference.

An alpine farmer told me that, because of some new EU regulations, he had to tile the earth cellar where the ripening of his cheese (made from unpasteurized milk) happened. The cheese tasted and looked different after that. Not bad, but different.

 

[TGee]

An alpine farmer told me that, because of some new EU regulations, he had to tile the earth cellar where the ripening of his cheese (made from unpasteurized milk) happened. The cheese tasted and looked different after that. Not bad, but different.

Interesting...

It may be less that they had to tile than that in doing so they disrupted microbiota in the environment.

In Charlevoix, which is a tourist region, as well as a cheese producing one, I visited a couple of plants. One had a glass window where one could look into the ripening room. It was tiled.

But those plants are relatively new. And the cheesecakes are really conscious of creating a stable environment.

I heard that when one of the old Trappist cheese plants near Montreal expanded in the 1970s, the cheese changed in taste because the microbiota in the environment didn't fully transfer.

TGee