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La Bique au Pré is a new family member from Fromagerie la Suisse Normande.
The fromagerie is located about an hour's drive west of Montreal, in Saint-Roch-Ouest, and it has its own herd of Saanen goats. Their herd of roughly 475 goats is mostly white, with some small black markings. So cute! They also produce cow's milk cheeses from Holstein milk, which they buy from a neighbouring farm whose values they share.
This is a family-run farm and fromagerie. The founders and now the second generation run the farm and cheese business together. They also have a small café and a lovely-looking country store on their property.
La Suisse Normande already makes some of our favourite Canadian cheeses. In the store, we especially love Le Pizy, a soft, bloomy cow's-milk cheese, and Le Chevronné, a tasty goat version of the Pizy. These are more like soft-ripened cheeses, but they also make stronger geotrichum-ripened goats like Sabot de Blanchette and Le Biquerond, which are extremely delicious and flavourful.
La Bique au Pré is a fresh-style goat cheese tomme, covered in a fresh layer of locally grown herbs. Thyme, rosemary, oregano and basil form a natural crust for the tomme, and a fine layer of mould grows on top, like the first snowfall on the farm's fields.
The wheels are a nice mid-size, weighing about one kilo, and the inside of the cheese is a beautiful, snowy white.
Although it is a fresh goat, the paste is a little denser and richer in texture than you might expect. It still has that special lactic taste that fresh goats often have, but it also has a grassy taste and a buttery mouthfeel.
The balance between the cheese's inside paste and the herbaceous crust strikes just the right note for me. Often, a herbed crust can overwhelm the milk's own flavour, but that doesn't happen here at all. The herb flavours are gentle and add just the right amount of interest without overpowering the cheese's beautiful, milky taste.
Yes, this cheese would be beautiful in a salad of fresh greens, but whatever you do, you won't want to hide its delicate nature. I think a wedge on a cheeseboard, or maybe a small slice as a canapé on a toasted baguette with a little drizzle of an earthy honey, such as chestnut or forest honey, would be perfect.
It's so nice to have a new addition to the wonderful line of goat cheeses made by our Canadian cheesemakers. If you want to try something new to celebrate Canada Day and Canadian goat cheese makers, and you can't find la Bique au Pré in your neighbourhood yet, there are plenty of other amazing goat cheeses made in Canada.
Others I would recommend include Le Chevronné, La Mascotte, Ma Manière, Crottin Ma Manière, any of the cheeses from Fromagerie Ruban Bleu, Le Cendrillon, or the always amazing Grey Owl.
I hope everyone has a fantastic Canada Day, and I hope you join me in toasting our great Canadian cheese makers!
Wine recommendations by GOW
