Firm local cheese perfect for frying or grilling
Award-winning Fresk-o-cheese made at Leduc processing plant
Introducing a fresh, Latin American cheese to the Canadian market might feel a bit risky to some entrepreneurs. After all, Canadians are known for their devotion to traditional, European cheeses, such as Parmesan, Gouda and Swiss.
But Rafael Chavez, creator of Fresk-o cheese, is faring well with his new product sales, thanks to a Canadian quirk. We love to barbecue. We even barbecue cheese.
Chavez has developed a Latin American cheese (one of three in his line) that suits the grill like no other cheese I have ever experienced. In fact, Chavez’s Queso Fresco cheese — white, firm and made from Canadian milk — recently won the top award for a grilling cheese at the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix in Montreal, beating out two established Ontario players.
It’s easy to appreciate Queso Fresco’s award-winning properties after sampling the product. It is one of the easiest, cheesiest appetizers for the grill and should definitely enter your roster of summer barbecue specialties.
“You can grill it in kebabs, bread it in fingers, bake or deep fry it,” says Chavez with pride.
Indeed, at home, I chopped the cheese in cubes and then threaded them on to a metal skewer. After getting the barbecue nice and hot, I placed the cheese kebabs on the grill, turning them about every minute or so on all four sides, before removing them.
The cubes were crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside, with a mild, milky and salty flavour that had me returning for seconds. (Queso Fresco cheese has a higher melting point than other cheeses, which makes it perfect for frying and grilling.)
It’s been quite a journey for Chavez to bring his cheese to market, and so he’s gratified by the recent recognition by Dairy Farmers of Canada, which hosted the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix, held every two years to recognize cheese made from 100 per cent Canadian milk.
A dairy farmer and cheesemaker in his native country of Venezuela, Chavez sold his business and moved to Canada in 2009 to start a new life after the socialist government of Hugo Chavez began its program of land reform. He noticed that Alberta didn’t have the same fresh cheeses that he had been used to producing at home, and initiated a new business in 2010 to fill that niche.
With extensive support from the Alberta government’s Food Processing Development Centre (an arm of the department of agriculture and rural development), Chavez has brought three kinds of Latin American-style cheese to the market — Queso Fresco, Queso Paisa and Queso Duro — with a fourth in development.
The Food Processing Development Centre opened in Leduc in 1984 and helps budding food entrepreneurs with all aspects of business development, from getting proper licenses to assisting with financing, to testing and marketing products. Chavez has been helped along the way by the centre’s Jacqueline Martin Lopez, a food scientist and expert in dairy-based foods.
Though he lives in Calgary, Chavez drives to Leduc several times a month to make cheese. Producing the cheese, he says, is simple. A batch starts with several thousand litres of pasteurized, Alberta milk. The milk is heated in a giant vat, and salt and rennet are added to the mixture, producing curds. One cheese, the Queso Duro, also has a bacterial culture added to the mix, which makes it taste a little more acidic than the others.
The curds are drained and pressed into moulds and left to solidify for several hours. Then, the cheese is transferred to the cutting room, where employees slice it into two sizes, and then vacuum seal and label the product.
The fresh cheeses have a shelf life of 180 days.
The Queso Paisa has a lower salt content, and is good for sandwiches or a cheese tray. Queso Duro has the highest salt content and is a hard cheese, which works well when grated over tacos or tortillas. Queso Fresco is perfect for the barbecue.
All of the cheeses in the Fresk-o line can be found at Sobeys, as well as at some Latin American specialty shops in Edmonton such as Pariso Tropical. Superstore recently began to carry the products as well.
Chavez won’t be able to stay at the Food Processing Development Centre forever; it’s geared toward emerging businesses and, at some point, he must move on.
He’s looking at a small processing facility in Calgary and his goal is to produce 3,500 kilograms of cheese a month, up from current production of 1,500 kilograms.
“I believe in the business, if not, I am not here,” says Chavez, who knew barely a word of English when he moved to Alberta.
“All my life, I live for the cheese and in Canada, I think it will be a good business.”
GRILLED QUESO FRESCO WITH OR EGANO AND OLIVE OIL
Serves six to eight as an appetizer. You’ll need wooden or metal skewers for this dish. If you don’t want to use skewers, simply cut the cheese into long fingers about 1/4 inch (6 millimetres) and place directly on the barbecue, across the grain of the grill. Ingredients 1 pound (454 g) Fresk-o Queso Fresco or Queso Paisa cheese, cut into cubes 3 tablespoons (50 mL) extra virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons (10 mL) dried oregano Method If you are using wooden skewers, soak them in water for an hour before threading them with cubes of cheese. Stir together oil and oregano in a 9 by 13-inch (22 by 33 cm) shallow dish. Prepare the grill for cooking. If using a charcoal grill, open vents on bottom of grill, then light charcoal. Charcoal fire is medium-hot when you can hold your hand 5 inches (10 cm) above the rack for 3 to 4 seconds. If using a gas grill, preheat burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then reduce heat to moderately high. Oil the grill. Brush the cheese skewers with the oil and oregano mixture and place the skewers on the grill. If it’s a gas grill, close the lid for perhaps a minute. Turn (using a metal spatula to scrape under the cheese to loosen before turning each time) until evenly browned, about three to seven minutes in total.