Handcrafted With Love in the Cowichan Valley

Treat yourself to a taste of Europe in your own backyard. Here at our family farm in the Cowichan Valley, we make all our raw-milk cheeses by hand--using the same Old-World methods as European farmstead cheese makers. Our artisanal cheese pairs well with wine, honey and good company.

Made with Love and Care

We believe that carefully ripening the cheese (also called affinage) is just as important as making it. Raw-milk cheese needs to mature for at least 3 months to bring out its characteristic bold and complex flavours. During this time, we regularly flip and turn the cheese–which helps it maintain its shape. We also control the type of edible cultures that grow on the cheese by treating it with salty water or wine. The resulting natural rind lends our cheeses a unique regional taste that cannot be replicated anywhere else.

We do not sell directly from the farm. Find out where you can purchase our rich and indulgent cheeses:

Cheese - An Introduction

Cheesemaking is as much a science as it is an art. You can develop and array of flavours and textures by changing a single variable.

Types of Milk

We use the fresh whole milk from our goats and sheep for our farmstead cheeses, and rich cow’s milk from a local farm. Each type of milk has its own characteristics, which drives the flavour of the cheese.

Raw vs. Pasteurized

The microflora that are naturally present in milk give raw-milk cheese its uniquely intense flavour. Pasteurized milk no longer has this microflora, and therefore has milder flavours. We produce both raw-milk and pasteurized fresh cheeses.

Moulding & Pressing

We can control the level of moisture in the cheese by pressing the mould. This influences the texture of the cheese as well.

Terroir

We use a natural aging process that allows the flora and fauna of the land to come through in our cheeses. This concept of tasting the regional origin of a cheese is called terroir.

Cheesemaking Process

We can create completely different cheeses by adjusting the temperature of the milk, controlling its acidity, adding specific types of cultures, and varying the amounts of salt we add to the curds. Even the way we cut the curds makes a difference.

Affinage

The process of carefully ripening the cheese after it has been moulded helps to enhance its flavour complexity and character. Depending on the type of cheese, we either wash or brush it.

Did You Know...

That our goat's milk and sheep's milk cheeses are seasonal? As the vegetation changes so does the milk. This means that the same recipe will yield a different flavour, texture and richness depending on the time of year.