The Mill Street Cheese Market

I went for a lovely country drive with my Dad last Saturday to The Mill Street Cheese Market, just off Main Street in quaint, historic downtown Georgetown. The pretty little shop is filled to the brim with the best local and international cheeses, cured meats, charcuterie, and gourmet specialty food products, from as close as Caledon to as far away as Europe and Australia. Olive the Mill Street Cheese Market. Whenever I go, I feel like I am visiting a little fromagerie shop in France.

Mill-St-Cheese

Like a kid in a candy shop, I like to start each visit by browsing every inch of the shelves for little gourmet treasures like preserves, olive oil, pasta sauces, and even artisanal limonade from France and the iconic St-Viateur Bagels from Montreal (you haven’t had a proper bagel if you haven’t had a St-Viateur Bagel).

mill-st-jelly

It doesn’t take long before one of the staff tempts me with samplings of the fabulous cheeses and cured meats that this shop has to offer. Go with an appetite and the time to learn about each product. These people know their cheese and are passionate about sharing their knowledge with you.

The first nibble that I was offered was a little spoon filled with a tiny dollop of Rootham’s Tangy Red Pepper Jelly and topped with a sliver of Aged Farmhouse artisan cheese from Natural Pastures Cheese Company in Courtenay, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

mill-st-cheddar

Wow! The sweet and spicy tang of the jelly was a delicious match for this outstanding aged firm cheese that was rich and flavourful with slightly granular and sweet end-notes. Natural Pastures Cheese Company produces a variety of world-class,  award-winning cheeses. They use fresh, pure milk from grass-fed cows who live stress-free on the pristine farms of the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.

mill-st-aged-cheddar

Rootham Gourmet Preserves Tangy Red Pepper Jelly is all natural and gluten free. It is made in Guelph, Ontario with local Canadian ingredients, including fresh Ontario red bell peppers.

mill-st-roothman

My next sample was Summer Sausage made by Mennonites in Stratford, Ontario. This fine textured sausage is all pork and sold whole, wrapped in a cloth bag which helps to preserve it.

Mill-st-sausage

As soon as you roll back the cloth, you are enticed by the piquant aroma.  A thin slice practically melts in your mouth but bursts with garlic, warm spice and smokiness. Irresistible.

mill-st-mennonite

I made my way to the cheese counter and tried a sample of a creamy Thunder Oak Medium Gouda made by the Schep family with fresh milk from their Holstein cows, on Thunder Oak Cheese Farm in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

mill-st-gouda-2

Their lovely Dutch cheese is award-winning and free of preservatives or added colouring.  Dill or Jalapeno flavoured Thunder Oak Gouda was also available but I bought the plain medium to pair it with Roothman’s Tangy Red Pepper Jelly.

My final treat was Magie de Madawaska,  an artisanal washed rind cheese made from full cream cow’s milk by Fromagerie Le Détour in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec.  Soft, creamy, and full of flavour.

miil-st-magie

Just visiting The Mill Street Cheese Market is a joy in itself but I am pretty sure that you won’t leave the store empty handed. It is conveniently located just off Main Street, a few steps from where the wonderful Georgetown Farmers Market is held on Saturday mornings during the growing season.

The Mill Street Cheese Market
96 Mill Street
Georgetown, ON
L7G 2C9
905-873-6000
www.millstreetcheesemarket.com
 
Store Hours:
Tuesday to Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday & Monday: Closed

If you would like to learn a little more about the producers of these fine products, please visit their websites below.

Tangy Red Pepper Jelly:
Roothman Gourmet Preserves
www.roothamsgourmet.com
 
Aged Farmhouse Grass-fed Artisan Cheese:
Natural Pastures Cheese Company
www.naturalpastures.com
 
Medium Gouda:
Thunder Oak Cheese Farm
www.cheesefarm.ca
 
Magie de Madawaska:
Fromagerie Le Détour
www.fromagerieledetour.ca

5 comments to The Mill Street Cheese Market

  • Wave Barber  says:

    Hello
    Do you carry the Jensens 5 yr old cheddar from Simcoe Ont.
    I love it and I am looking for an outlet to purchase it

  • Olive  says:

    Good morning. I contacted The Mill Street Cheese Market today and they confirmed that they do carry Jensens 5 year-old cheddar.

  • W. Barber  says:

    Hello Olive
    Thanks so much for contacting Mill Cheese Market and your thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated.

  • Olive  says:

    My pleasure!

  • Splendour in the Grass: Mill Street Cheese Market  says:

    […] an empty picnic basket to Georgetown’s Mill Street Cheese Market and load up with a moveable feast of well-crafted, artisanal cheese and other […]

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