Allegretto
Unpasteurized sheep milk
Fromagerie La Vache à Maillotte (artisan)

Selected as Québec’s Best Sheep Milk Cheese in 2004, Allegretto is from the province’s northerly Abitibi region. This firm-textured, tangy and slightly fruity cheese is made from the milk of a single flock. Allegretto is milder than many sheep milk cheeses, and broadly appealing. Use in sandwiches, salads and pasta dishes, or as one of several cheeses on a cheese board.

Baluchon
Raw cow milk
Les Fromageries Jonathan (artisan)

Baluchon is the sole product of cheese maker Jonathan Portelance, and is made with milk from a neighbouring, organically certified farm. Portelance ripens this supple, fragrant cheese by washing the rind with brine over a period of two months. Baluchon has a woodsy, barnyard aroma and a buttery, fruity and nutty flavour, which marries well will whole-grain breads, almonds and pears.

Bleu Bénédictin
Pasteurized cow milk
Abbaye de Saint-Benôit-du-Lac (artisan/monastic)

This award-winning blue is one of several cheeses produced by a Benedictine community in Québec’s Eastern Townships region. Bleu Bénédictin has sharp, clean herbal aromas and a balanced sweet, earthy and piquant flavour. Expressive, but not overly strong, this blue is delicious crumbled over root vegetable soup or beet salad, or on a cheese board with figs and walnuts.

Bouq’Émissaire
Unpasteurized goat milk
Fromages Chaput/Dépendances du Manoir (artisan/affineur)

This bright white goat cheese coated with blue-grey ash is beautiful to look at and a delight to taste. The rind and core colours present a striking contrast, making a wedge of Bouq’Émissaire an attractive cheese board addition. Tangy mineral flavours melt cleanly, leaving a long luscious aftertaste. Bouq’Émissaire means scapegoat: a rather unlikely name for a cheese this tasty.