Caroline Pelletier, breeder and now cheese maker, is a great lover of animals. She opened Missiska Boutique Cheese Factory in April 2018 in Bedford Village, where she sells not only milk from her Jersey cows, but also other products made from it: yogurt, cheese curds, fresh cheese and fine cheese.
Caroline thought it was a shame that the milk from her cows, « impeccable and exceptional », was mixed with all the other milk and lost in the Quebec milk processing network. It is therefore to promote it and make people taste it that she had the idea of setting up the cheese dairy. Today, about 30% of the production of the Missiska Farm is sent to the cheese factory of the same name.
From the milk, she also wanted to make other products, like cheeses. « Especially with the 22 wineries nearby. We wanted to add a cheese factory to the Wine Route, » she says. In order to do this, the farmer had to train herself while developing her business plan. She also sought expertise from the Centre d’expertise fromagère du Québec, in St-Hyacinthe, to see what products to develop.
Our Royal Jersey cheese is inspired by French cheeses such as Saint-André, Chaource or Délice de Bourgogne. These are triple creams, but not Jersey Royal, because our milk is rich enough to keep it as is. The particularity of the Jersey Royal is that it is made with a whole milk lactic curd like the goat cheeses. It is hand-raised with care. There is no equivalent in Quebec. In the future, we would like to offer Jersey veal at the boutique and offer meat products from our farm.