Cheese has been produced in Canada since Samuel de Champlain brought cows from

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

in either 1608 or 1610, The Canadienne breed of cattle is thought to descend from these and other early Norman imports.

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

developed soft, unripened cheeses characteristic of its metropole,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Later British settlers and Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution introduced British styles such as cheddar.

History

Canadian cheeses were almost entirely farm-made until 1864 when an American, Harvey Farrington started buying Canadian milk in commercial quantities necessary for industrial cheese making. The first commercial factory "The Pioneer" was set up in Norwich, Ontario, in 1864. Following a

wheat midge The Hessian fly or barley midge, ''Mayetiola destructor'', is a species of Diptera, fly that is a significant pest of cereal crops including wheat, barley and rye. Though a native of Asia, upon its discovery it was believed to have been transporte ...

outbreak in Canada in the mid-nineteenth century, farmers in the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

began to convert to

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or ...

in large numbers, and cheddar cheese was their main exportable product (before electric refrigeration was invented), even being exported back to the cheese's country of origin, England. In one year, 1867, the year of

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...

, 200 cheese factories were established in Ontario alone. In 1881, Édouard-André Barnard created North America's first cheese-making school in

Saint-Denis-De La Bouteillerie Saint-Denis-De La Bouteillerie is a municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec, located in the Kamouraska Regional County Municipality. Prior to November 16, 2013, it was known simply as Saint-Denis and was a parish municipality. The name c ...

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

. A dairy school (Canada's first) opened in 1892 in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, and in 1901, produced experimental Canadian versions of Camembert and

Feta Feta ( el, φέτα, ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep's milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is ...

. By the turn of the twentieth century, there were 1,242 cheddar factories in Ontario, and cheddar had become Canada's second largest export behind timber. Cheddar exports totalled in 1904, but by 2012, Canada was a net importer of cheese, and a manufactured cheese product "

Kraft Dinner Kraft Dinner (KD) in Canada, Kraft Mac & Cheese in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, Cheesey Pasta in the United Kingdom and internationally is a nonperishable, packaged macaroni and cheese product. It is made by Kraft Foods Group ...

" macaroni and cheese had become Canada's most popular grocery product and ''de facto''

national dish A national dish is a culinary dish that is strongly associated with a particular country. A dish can be considered a national dish for a variety of reasons: * It is a staple food, made from a selection of locally available foodstuffs that can be ...

James Lewis Kraft James Lewis Kraft (December 11, 1874 – February 16, 1953) was a Canadian-American entrepreneur and inventor. Kraft was the first to patent processed cheese. Life and career J. L. Kraft was born on December 11, 1874, near Stevensville, Ontari ...

grew up on a dairy farm in Ontario, before moving to Chicago. As writer Sarah Champman writes, "Although we cannot wholly lay the decline of cheese craft in Canada at the feet of James Lewis Kraft, it did correspond with the rise of Kraft's processed cheese empire."

Contemporary cheese production

Canadian cheeses are classified into six categories per their moisture content, which are firm, soft, semi-soft, fresh, blue-veined and hard, with most cheeses being classified as firm, soft, or semi-soft. Canada presently produces over 1,050 varieties and brands of cheese. More than half of the cheese manufacturers are located in Québec.Canadian Cheese Directory
Canadian Dairy Information Centre,

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

. The Sélection Caseus is an annual contest for Québec cheeses that began in 1999. It awards gold, silver and bronze prizes each year as well as prizes in diverse categories.

Quebec

Cheesemaking took off in Quebec in the late 19th century, following the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty (in force between 1854 and 1866). At that time, Quebeckers considered cheese a luxury, and did not eat it regularly. Quebec cheese had a poor reputation in Britain; British consumers apparently regarded its supposedly Catholic terroir as disqualifying. Indeed, Quebec undertook a special export program in 1892 "for the purpose of illustrating … that cheese from Quebec were just as good, in many cases, as cheese from Ontario". As late as

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Quebec cheese was sold in the United Kingdom as Ontario cheese. Joseph-Édouard Caron, minister of agriculture in the early 20th century, instituted an inspection regime for cheese and butter factories in the province. , approximately 700 varieties of cheese were produced in Quebec, by over 100 cheesemakers. Quebec experienced a boom in cheese manufacturing at the turn of the millennium; numerous

cheesemakers Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrat ...

set up shop between 2001 and 2008.

References

Sources

* *

History

Contemporary cheese production

Quebec

See also

References

Sources

Further reading