A Northern Ontario artisan cheesemaker now has an award-winning goat cheese at Toronto’s Royal Winter Agricultural Fair.

La Fromagerie Kapuskoise won first prize in the fresh unripened cheese – natural category.

Denis Nadeau, marketing manager for the family cheese shop, says it was a spreadable goat cheese that won his company first prize.

“It’s an explosive, zesty flavor that pairs well with just about everything,” he said.

“You can put it in omelets, pasta, bread, pancakes, etc.”

Nadeau says getting this recognition is a big deal because his business is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We lost the restaurant business in the South and it hasn’t come back yet,” he said.

Nadeau says he’s currently too busy to party. He says that Fromagerie Kapuskoise produces around 20 tonnes of cheese per year and that it will have to wait until after the Christmas period to benefit from the victory at the fair.

“A lot of cheese. Factories sell 60 percent of their stocks during the Christmas period,” he said.

Award-winning mead

Fromagerie Kapuskoise is not the only Northern Ontario producer to win awards at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair.

Liam Bursey, an amateur wine and mead maker from Sudbury, won two awards for the product he worked on with his brother.

Mead is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey, instead of grapes, as you would find in wine.

Bursey says he began making mead and wine during the COVID-19 pandemic when he began helping his father, who is an amateur winemaker.

“I love the experimental aspect,” he said.

“I love conceptualizing your own recipes, finding recipes online and tweaking them.”

As a hobbyist, Bursey can’t sell his mead, but he has distributed bottles to friends and family and held tastings.

He says it was his mother who convinced him to apply for the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair competition.

“She knew the fair better than I did and knew there was a mead category,” he said.

His brother suggested a spiced mead called Chateau Bursey, and he introduced one flavored with freshly picked blueberries called Good Enough Wine.

Château Bursey won first place in its category and Good Enough second.

Bursey says maybe one day he’ll get the certifications needed to sell his mead, but that could still be a long way off.