This is my first post in a series of short posts on one of my favorite subjects, cheese. Recently I bought from the supermarket a kind of cheese I hadn't seen before: "Ottawa" cheese. For those who haven't been following this blog, I used to live in Ottawa, but now I live in good ol' Americky. Anyway, I was ticked pink to see Ottawa cheese around here, and I vaguely wondered whether it tasted like Ottawa, and so I bought it. The supermarket's selection of cheese is OK for a US supermarket, but it's still pretty sparse, so I was surprised to see something like this.
Now, Ottawa cheese is so named because it's imported from Canada, apparently. The picture on the cover happens to be of...an uninhabited wasteland, since that what the average USian might imagine Ottawa to be, assuming the given Merkin has ever even heard of Ottawa, which is in fact quite rare. (By contrast most South Americans know pretty much where it is.)
I originally didn't get the greatest impression from it. Sometimes the ends of a block are inferior. But after a second try, it tastes like a reasonable (mediocre) old sharp white cheddar. It's better than generic supermarket cheddar, though, but it's much more expensive, so I probably won't get it a second time. Once melted on toast it tastes no different from supermarket cheddar.
The most disappointing aspect of the cheese was that it did not taste like Ottawa. (Actually this is a feature, not a bug, but whatever.) I therefore move a motion of non-confidence against it, since it lied on its campaign promises. Lying, lying cheese. I now await its campaign platform. Aux urnes de fromage!
On the topic of cheddar, have you tried Forfar or Empire? Both better than Balderson and Forfar is better than Empire. Mind you, Forfar used to be really good about fifteen years ago when they sold "Extra Old" white cheddar older than I. Now the aged cheese is only five or seven years, not quite as impressive but still quite good. But the cheese they don't sell anymore! (Too expensive to store; not enough space; etc.) Fell apart into little bits and it burnt your mouth.
I also recommend the fresh curd, made three times a week. Available at your local Lanark County gas station, grocery store, and from the factory itself (in, obviously, Forfar) -- just off of highway 15, five minutes from Portland and twenty-five from Smiths Falls. Some people think fresh curd goes on top of fries, but the real place it goes is on top of a burger from La Soyarie (now available at Loblaws and most quality food stores, such as Foodsmith's in Perth).
Posted by: Craig | December 10, 2005 at 12:53 PM
Actually, I've never been a big cheddar fan in general, and in Ottawa we rarely bought interesting cheeses. My mother did most of the grocery shopping (being a dutiful culinary apprentice, I tagged along regularly, but the decisions were hers), and she either always bought generic cheese or cheese like dill-infused Havarti or chili-infused "farmer's" cheese and things like that. Sometimes, Brie. She likes Brie. And blue cheese.
Around here, we have nothing equivalent to Loblaws. Most grocery stores do not even have the olive carts. The deli sections are pitifully small, so it's not like there's much choice in interesting cheddars. The Ottawa cheese is like the only particularly sharp non-generic cheddar, and it's only 9 months old. You have to go to trendy Trader Joe's or Whole Foods type places to get any selection. Whenever my parents visit me, they are invariably disappointed by the grocery shopping experience here, in a cosmopolitan American metropolis. I mean, you'd think they'd match stodgy Canadian *Loblaws*. Of course, if I readjust my tastes a little bit to Hispanic-type stuff, the selection improves but not by much.
Posted by: Mandos | December 11, 2005 at 04:19 PM
Swiss and cheddar are about the only cheeses I eat. And curd. Rather pedestrian tastes!
Posted by: Craig | December 12, 2005 at 02:48 PM