Tomme de Grosse-Île has a slightly downy brownish rind and a creamy yellow paste dotted with small holes that melts in the mouth. It has medium aromas of straw, forest and butter and features lactic flavours that are slightly tart and herbal with a hint of fruit.

The cheese is named in tribute to Grosse Île, an island in the St. Lawrence River. The label shows the big island with the Isle-aux-Grues archipelago in the background.

Grosse-Île was used as a quarantine site for the Port of Québec between 1832 and 1937. Many newcomers to Canada first stopped there, including Irish immigrants.

This is actually why the label is encircled by the colours of the Irish flag, with green representing the Irish Catholics and orange the English Protestants. The white represents the hope of peace between the two peoples.

Launched in 2004, Tomme de Grosse-Île is produced exclusively with the milk from a herd of Brown Swiss cows. The cows are partly fed with marsh hay, which gives the cheese its character.

Cheesemaker

This cheese dairy began in 1976 when 14 producers from the island founded the Société Coopérative Agricole de l’Isle-aux-Grues in order to process their milk into cheese. The operation began in 1977 and took place only in the summer.