by Lise Ladouceur and Sandra Salmins
HOW A PIECE OF CHEESE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Just to recap, in our Cheese of the Month program, we select one Great Canadian Cheese, tell you a little about it and then donate 10% of the proceeds of sales of this monthly cheese to a local charitable organization. Last year, through various initiatives, Peches & Poivre donated in the neighbourhood of $1000.00 to local causes. This year, through a ‘people’s poll’ on our Facebook and Website, the Lanark County Therapeutic Riding Program (LCTRP) was chosen to be the beneficiary of our Cheese of the Month program. LCTRP provides a safe environment to introduce disabled children and adults to the benefits and healing powers of the horse. The program does not receive any ongoing government funding and relies on donations, fundraising activities, and lots of volunteers to operate.
Our first cheese of the month this year, beginning NOW, May 1, is a cheese called Handeck. Award-winning Handeck is made by the young Shep Ysselstein of Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese in Woodstock, Ontario. It is a hand crafted, washed rind cow’s milk cheese that is produced using the same methods as a typical Swiss mountain style cheese. The cheese is delicately aged on cedar wood planks which adds robust flavours. It is a drier hard cheese with very rich and complex flavours and nutty overtones. All of the milk used, comes from the family dairy farm. It pairs well with red wines such as Pinot Noir and also dark roasted beers, perhaps Crooked Mile’s ‘Black Dog’ Stout.
We think ‘Cheese of the Month’ is a great way to try, and to get to know, one new wonderful Canadian cheese at a time while knowing that some of the money will be going to a good cause close to home. Please drop in to Peches & Poivre for a sample of this lovely cheese and maybe take some home with you!
