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R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s F r i d a y, M a y 1 5 , 2 0 1 5 4 2 RAW SHEEP'S MILK CHEESES FROM THE BACK 40 By Lorrie Baumann In his fourth season as an artisan cheese- maker, Jeff Fenwick, cheesemaker at Back Forty Artisan Cheese in Lanark, Ontario, doesn't regret leaving his job as director of admissions at a college in downtown Hamilton. His wife Jenna simply brought her own art and design business with her when they made the move, and although she's streamlined the retail channels for her line of women's bags and accessories to accommodate her new rural location, her studio still thrives. "We turned a barn into her studio here when we moved," Jeff says. "She has a big Etsy store." Jeff and Jenna were living and work- ing in Hamilton when his job at the col- lege began to feel a little stale. The cou- ple had always been interested in food, cooking and entertaining, and they'd started growing some of their vegetables. Jeff had gotten interested in fermenting and was making his own beer and cider. "I had made the odd batch of yogurt, but no advanced cheese making," he says. Jeff's job required long hours at the college, and the two of them began to regret how little time they were spending together, too. All those yearnings prompted Jeff to start searching for a chance to leave his office job for a busi- ness related to food. They thought of opening a small cafe, perhaps. "While we were researching, this cheese business came up for sale. It's a beautiful area, and we had some family in the area, and it turned out to be a great fit for us," Jeff says. "A big part of moving out here was to spend more time together. The college job was very demanding. We weren't seeing each other a whole lot." In business since late 1999 or early 2000, Back Forty Artisan Cheese was one of the first in Ontario to make raw sheep's milk cheeses. Its former owner was ready to leave it behind but he want- ed to leave the business in good hands, so he stayed involved long enough to teach Jeff how to make cheese from his recipes. "I had to learn a whole new art," Jeff says. "I used his recipes, did some trial and error, made some mistakes. It took a good year to settle into it." Milking the sheep is outsourced to a nearby farm where the farmer has more livestock experience."He has a flock of 200 sheep this year," Jeff says. "He does what he does best and gives us high-qual- ity milk that we can make good cheese with." Jenna handles the marketing and website management for the business, and today the cheese is being sold at spe- cialty cheese shops and upscale grocers all over Ontario, with the majority going to the eastern half of the province, including Ottawa and some farmers mar- kets and small retailers in Toronto. They just added the farmers market in Kingston to their distribution network. Back Forty Artisan Cheeses makes four products in its regular line. Flower Station is a traditional-style feta. Highland Blue is a natural rind blue cheese that's flavorful but a little smoother than most blue cheeses, with some extra butteriness from the sheep's milk. "We've had a lot of success with that one," Jeff says. Bonnechere is a semifirm cheese, unique because it's influenced by a Basque recipe. Its rind is flame-torched for a mahogany exterior and a hint of smokiness that gives it an interesting fla- vor on the rind around a body that's tangy and a little fruity. It's aged from three months to a year or more. Finally, Madawaska, a bloomy rind raw milk cheese that's tricky to make. "It ripens from the outside in, so you get that ripeness right under the rind, with a little firmer body to it near the center," Jeff says. "Madawaska is frequently back- ordered due to the high demand for this unique cheese and the fact that we can produce only limited quantities." Now that Jeff has settled into his new life, he's growing it too. The couple just bought a new farm in North Frontenac, where they're building a new facility that they expect to have in opera- tion this summer. For further information, visit www .artisancheese.ca. For more information about Jenna Fenwick's line of screen- printed textile products, visit jennarose.ca. OUTSTANDING COOKBOOKS NAMED The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) unveiled the winners of its highly-coveted awards, including the IACP Cookbook Awards, Bert Greene Awards, Digital Media Awards, First Book: Julia Child Award, and the IACP Special Recognition Awards at its 37th annual conference centered on the theme "Culinary Communications." IACP award recipi- ents are chosen through an intense judg- ing process, with winners being acknowl- edged as trailblazers in the global culi- nary community. This year's winners include cook- book authors Christopher Kostow (Cookbook of the Year, presented by Cuisinart) and Sean Brock(First Book: Julia Child Award, presented by KitchenAid) and popular print publica- tions and websites such as Food & Wine Magazine, Fine Cooking Magazine, EatingWell, Bon Appétit, and Food52. The awards were hosted by chef, restau- rateur, New York Times bestselling cookbook author, and television person- ality Curtis Stone. "We're excited to honor and cele- brate our 2015 award winners – they rep- resent the food and culinary community's best in class," said Meredith Deeds, Chief Executive Officer of IACP. "This year's conference has been an over- whelming success with inspiring speak- ers, top-notch sessions, and a constant flow of festive events and activities including multiple toasts for Jacques Pépin's 80th birthday with an '80 Cakes' party. Additionally, acclaimed chef and culinary innovator José Andrés provided a motivating keynote presentation on embracing good causes and making strides to improve food qual- ity." A highlight for this year's confer- ence was a celebration of Jacques Pépin's 80th birthday. A culinary pio- neer and original founder of IACP, Jacques Pépin was honored by IACP with the event, "80 Cakes for Jacques Pépin," which featured 80 birthday cakes contributed by some of the world's leading chefs, tastemakers, and organizations. Cakes were auctioned to support IACP's philanthropic arm, The Culinary Trust. More than $8,000 was raised for the trust, including a generous donation by Chef Andrés. Pastry Chef Jacques Torres prepared and served chef Pépin's favorite "Jacques Torres Oreo Cake" for attendees, and numerous celebrity chefs and culinary luminaries shared toast after toast. The 2015 conference assembled culinary thought leaders to the eclectic food scene of Washington, D.C. Food media, cookbook authors, chefs, dieti- tians, food photographers, food mar- keters, food stylists, bloggers, culinary tourism experts, educators, and farmers gathered to connect, learn, and share their career and personal journeys in their collective love for food. This unique meeting of the food minds con- venes annually providing unmatched educational sessions, culinary tours, cooking classes, and networking oppor- tunities. The 2016 IACP conference is planned for Los Angeles from April 1-3, and a call for educational session proposals will be issued in the coming months.