World Cheese Encyclopedia - Each Sunday learn all about a new cheese.
This week Oka from Canada.
Photo: Fromageoka.ca
Country: Canada
Region: Quebec
Made from: Cow’s milk
Pasteurised: Both pasteurised and unpasteurised
Texture: Semi-firm
Taste: Nutty, creamy, fruity
Certification: No
Ageing: 30 or 60 days
If you want to find a truly Canadian cheese, look no further than Oka. Named after the town of Oka in Quebec, it was created in 1893 by the Trappist monks of the Oka Abbey.
Oka is a semi-firm, washed-rind cheese with a pungent aroma and an orange rind. The paste is pale yellow. It’s made from raw or pasteurized cow’s milk. It is buttery with a soft creamy flavor with fruity, nutty notes. It melts very well.
The rind becomes more coppery coloured the longer the cheese is aged.
There are four types of Oka cheese available:
Regular Oka made using pasteurized cow's milk and ripened for three to four weeks.
Classic Oka which is also pasteurized and ripened for two months.
Providence Oka which has a more creamy, soft texture.
Light Oka which is similar to 'Regular', but with a lower percentage of fat.
History
Oka cheese has a fascinating history. The Trappist monks of the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac (known as Oka Abbey) in Deux-Montagnes, Quebec originated from the Abbaye de Bellefontaine in France. In February of 1893, Brother Alphonse Juin brought the recipe for Port-du-Salut cheese all the way from France to his brothers in Canada in order to help the monastery make ends meet. Brother Alphonse tweaked and adjusted the Port-du-Salut recipe, resulting in Oka cheese. That same year, this unique Quebec cheese won first prize at the Montreal Exhibition and has gone on to become a Canadian classic, produced by the monks from 1893 onwards.
Photo: Cheesewiki.com
In 1918 the monks shared the Oka recipe with the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of the Prairies in Holland, Manitoba, who started to make a Fromage de la Trappe in the 1980s using the recipe. It is still produced in small batches at the Abbey and is only available in Manitoba.
Photo: 12bouteilles.com
In 1981, the rights to produce Oka were finally sold by the monks to Agropur, Canada’s largest cheese cooperative. The cheese is made in the Fromagerie Oka, just down the street from the original Trappist monks’ monastery. Most of the staff have been making Oka for more than 25 years and some have worked with the monks themselves.
How to enjoy it
Oka’s ancestry is the French cheese Port Salut so naturally, it pairs well with a French Burgundy, made from Pinot Noir. It also goes well with Zinfandel. It can be used in fondue as it melts very nicely. Pair its nutty, fruity aromas with nuts and fruit such as walnuts or cashews, figs, grapes or apples.
Sources: Tasteatlas.com, Wikipedia, Fromageoka.ca, The Globe & Mail, Food Network Canada, Cheesewiki.com, 12Bouteilles.com
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