Blue Haze and Memories of Algonquin Park

Blue Haze – Canada

Blue Haze Cheese

Blue Haze is a Canadian blue cheese with a little something special. I found this cheese at Whole Foods in Oakville.

This is a smoked blue cheese, made from cow’s milk, that is produced by the the monks at the Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac in Quebec. I’ve tried other cheeses made by the monks such as Frere Jacques and Mont St. Benoit. This one is my favorite so far.

Blue Haze is aged 10 weeks at the Abbaye then it is shipped to Provincial Fine Foods in Toronto. There it is packaged in Cryovac to set the curds and it is held for 4 weeks to firm. After that, it is transported to Hansen Farms in Cayuga, Ontario for smoking. The journey is worth it. The result is a smokey rind that transitions into a creamy salty and sweet center enhanced by the special tang and flavor of the blue veins. It all comes together so nicely.

When I try a cheese I savor the flavor and let my mind wander as my palette searches to interpret the texture and gracefully separate the mixture of subtle flavors. Strangely, while tasting the Blue Haze, I began thinking about camping and sitting by a camp fire. Slowly my mind drifted into fond memories of a Canoe trip that I had done last fall with friends through Algonquin Park. This is a little bizarre since although we had taken some cheese for snacking, we didn’t eat Blue Haze on the trip. Maybe it was the cheese and smoke combination that stirred something.

That’s the power of cheese. Sometimes when I eat a cheese it prompts a memory. Music does this for me too. I’ll hear a song and it will remind me of a place I visited, or a person I was with. Maybe that’s weird, but that’s me. None-the-less the Blue Haze cheese had me thinking about canoeing, camping and Algonquin Park.

Our Canoes for the Algonquin Park Trip

Portaging in Algonquin Park

Algonquin Park in the Fall view from my Campsite

However my mind works it does not matter, I enjoyed the cheese and I enjoyed the memories of Algonquin Park. On a cheese board, save this cheese for last. Its flavor will overpower the milder cheeses and the smokiness may linger.

When I consider the interesting flavor, the nice texture and the fond memories it spurred; the Blue Haze is on the favorites list for me.

Roquefort – Girl Crazy, Cave Dwelling, Slow Kid – Thank you!

Roquefort Cosse Noir

I picked up some Gabriel Coulet Roquefort Cosse Noir at Whole Foods in Oakville, Ontario. This is a French cheese made from raw sheep’s milk.

According to Wikipedia:

Roquefort is one of the world’s best known blue cheeses. European law dictates that only cheese aged in the natural Combalou caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon may bear the name Roquefort. Legend has it that the cheese was discovered when a youth, eating his lunch of bread and ewes’ milk cheese, saw a beautiful girl in the distance. Abandoning his meal in a nearby cave, he ran to meet her. When he returned a few months later, the mold (Penicillium roqueforti) had transformed his plain cheese into Roquefort.

That’s a great story but I’ve got a few questions.

In the first place, when I was young, if I had to choose between finishing a cheese sandwich or chasing after a girl I would have finished the sandwich then took after the girl. I mean seriously, how fast was this girl going, when she passed by, that required abandoning a cheese sandwich?

Secondly, that must have been some chase. That girl must have been really fast and the kid chasing her must have been half snail. How long does chasing a girl take? According to the story … a few months later? Well, if I didn’t get the girl within a few minutes, or a few hours at most, then I would give up and go back to finish my sandwich. With a full belly, I would wait for another girl to come along.

Ok then … I can come to terms with the kid being so girl crazy that he leaves his sandwich behind, and then he gets so distracted that he doesn’t come back … for months. BUT, when he returns and finds his cheese all moldy and stinky, WHAT IN THE WORLD was he thinking when he decided he should eat it anyway?

But I digress. It’s still a nice story and I’m glad he tasted it. I’m even more grateful that he had the sense to bring his discovery to the attention of the proper authorities to produce even more of the remarkable cheese.

The mold that gives Roquefort its distinctive character is Penicillium roqueforti and it is found in the soil of the Combalou caves in France.

Again, according to Wikipedia:

As of 2009, there are seven Roquefort producers. The largest by far is Roquefort Société made by the Société des Caves de Roquefort^[5] (a subsidiary of Lactalis), which holds several caves and opens its facilities to tourists, and accounts for around 60% of all production. Roquefort Papillon is also a well-known brand. The five other producers, each holding only one cave, are Carles, Gabriel Coulet, Fromageries occitanes, Vernières and Le Vieux Berger.

The cheese I tried, and that is pictured above, was produced by Gabriel Coulet. It is 44% milk fat with a 33% moisture content.

What does Roquefort Cosse Noir taste like?

It is milky, smooth, creamy, salty and packed with flavor. It is a strong cheese that will steal the show when put alongside a milder cheese. It spreads easily on crackers or bread. I recommend spreading it on a fresh warm baguette. On a cheese board it would take center stage.

I rank Roquefort high on my list of favorite cheeses and based on it’s popularity, I am not alone.

Here is a link to Roquefort France’s website.