Saturday, July 31, 2021

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Canadian Goat Brie

      This one was another find from the alternative ShopRite grocery.  It seems to have a tad more variety than my primary ShopRite.  Or maybe it's just that their choices are slightly different.  Whatever the case, today's selection is a Canadian goat brie cheese, from Woolwich Dairies, out of Orangeville, Ontario.

     Some extremely passionate (or crazy) cheese purists may be quite upset that this cheese is labeled "brie."  Because there are several details that disqualify it.  One, some think that brie has to be made in that particular region of France (formerly called Brie, now called Seine-et-Marne), to actually be "brie."  This is similar to those who claim that bourbon has to be made in Kentucky, or tequila in that place in Mexico, or champagne in that region of France, once more.  Two, traditional brie is made using cow's milk, not goat's.  Three, some may even argue that using milk of a different cream percentage, as is this triple creme kind, also means it's not authentic.  Four, the Woolwich brie is pasteurized, while traditional brie isn't.  Some claim this negatively affects the taste. (Although the advantage is that it severely lessens the chance that the cheese will make you seriously sick, so there's that.)  But, I'm not such a purist, so I'll continue to refer to the Woolwich cheese as brie throughout this post.  In an odd way I'd almost welcome some angry comments about this.

     With that (imagined?) unpleasantness out of the way, let's get into some background for this type of cheese.  Brie is actually very old.  The exact date of its invention isn't known, but it is thought to be sometime in the 7th century, A.D.  Made by the monks at the Priory of Rueil en Brie, which is about 35 miles east of Paris.  At any rate, in 774 the French emperor Charlemagne sampled some, and was quite impressed.  He requested it be regularly delivered to his home, in fact.  It continued to be a favorite of both kings and commoners in France for another millennium.  Although its worldwide popularity only dates back a couple of hundred years.

     Brie is noted for being a soft cheese.  Part of this derives from its brief aging period--on average it's only aged for 4-5 weeks.  There is another variant that's aged for months, or even a year, which is called "black brie."  Black brie has a darker rind color, and a sharper taste.  Because of its softness and lack of aging, brie is susceptible to bacteria, and spoilage.  (I assume black brie is hardier, but probably more delicate than most semisoft or hard cheeses.)

     According to their website, Woolwich Dairy began in 1983, with, "3 family members, a small herd of goats, 10,000 litres of milk, and a simple idea." And then, other online resources provided the names of these folks to be Adizinda Dutra, her son Tony Dutra, and his wife Olga.  I couldn't locate the original company name, but by 1986 it was Nova Cheese, and then switched to Woolwich in 1989 when the Dutras took over a dairy of that name, and just kept it.  Woolwich expanded in popularity over the years, and has won several awards at various cheese competitions.  In 2015 it was acquired by the giant Canadian company Saputo (see my post about kasseri cheese on June 27, 2020 for more information on this behemoth).  In addition to brie, Woolwich also markets other goat milk derived products, such as cheddar, mozzarella, feta, cheese logs, fruit-topped cheese, spreadable cheese, as well as butter and milk.  They also proudly note that their wares are gluten-free, and the company has a zero tolerance for animal cruelty from the 200 local dairy farms that provide milk to them.  Their cheeses are also vegetarian-friendly, since they use a vegetable-based microbial enzyme to make them, instead of the usual animal-derived rennet.  One note of warning, though--the official Woolwich website really enjoys using goat-based puns.


Woolwich Dairy triple creme goat brie cheese:  Had a white rind, and a yellowish-white interior cheese.  The texture was typical for brie--very soft and spreadable.  I had some on crackers, and some plain.  Both ways it was excellent.  Creamy, yet a little tangy too.  Because the rind is edible I eat that too.  I really can't compliment this cheese enough--it was spectacular.  Also, I didn't notice much of a difference between this and cow's milk brie.  Maybe I couldn't even in a blind taste test.  Anyway, I doubt there's many bad ways to eat this.  If you like brie, I think you'll probably enjoy this too.  Highest recommendation.





















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