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A.A.C.C.

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Authentic Artisanal Canadian Cheese

There is a lot of confusion about which cheeses are Canadian and what the term Artisan really means. At Provincial Fine Foods we are drawing a line in the sand in order to highlight finely crafted Canadian cheeses. That is what the AACC is all about.

The qualifications for becoming an AACC cheese are:

  • 100% Canadian Milk - No imported milk or milk products are used, just fresh local milk.

  • No Modified Milk Ingredients (MMI) - MMI's are dried milk. Under the quota system, dairy farmers are only allowed to supply a certain amount of fresh milk - any excess is purchased by the government and is dehydrated to create MMI - they are sold world-wide and are much less expensive than fresh milk. AACC cheeses only use fresh local milk.

  • Sustainable Farming - AACC farmers are sustainable in a variety of ways, all are small family or community businesses. See the individual producers on this site for more information on their sustainability measures.

  • Processing vat size of 10,000 fluid liters or less - believe it or not 10,000L is a small quantity. Depending on the cheese, the milk to cheese conversion ratio is 10-15:1, so at most 10,000l would produce about 1000kg of cheese.

  • No additives or artificial colouring are allowed.

  • The AACC is a set of standards to encourage high quality local cheese. When you purchase cheeses with the AACC sticker, you are assured finely crafted, small batch, Canadian cheeses that support sustainable farming.

Look for AACC cheeses at:
About Cheese, Pusateri's stores, All The Best Fine Foods, Fiesta Farms and Summerhill Market in Toronto and Farm Boy stores in Ottawa.

Currently AACC cheeses are produced by and are shown with examples of their cheese:
-Back Forty - Madawaska, Highland Blue
-Ewenity - Eweda Cru, Mouton Rouge -Fromagerie Blackburn - Blackburn,
-Fromagerie la Detour - Butter, Sentinal,
-Fifth Town Artisan Cheese - Cape Vessey, Lighthall Tomme, Bagel Chevre, Vicki's Spring Splendour
-Laterie Charlavoix- Hercule de Charlavoix, le 1608,
-Fromagerie Maurice Dufour - Migneron, Ciel de Charlevoix,
-Fromagerie la Station - Contomme -Fromagerie de la Table Ronde - Rassembleu, Fou du Roy
-Glengarry - Laankaster, Barely Blue, Celtic Blue
-Monforte - Toscano -Salt Spring Island Cheese Company - Juliette, Blue Juliette, Romelia, flavoured Chevres
-Societe Cooperative de l'Ile-aux-Grues - Mi-Careme, Riopelle, Tomme de Grosse Ile
-Upper Canada Cheese Company - Comfort Cream, Niagara Gold, Guernsey Girl
-Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser - Chevrochon, Douanier, Soeul Angele
-Fromagerie la Station - Contomme, Raclette, Alfred
-Thunder Oak Cheese Farm - Thunder Oak Gouda
-Bergerie aux Quatre Vents - Geai Bleu, Le Sieur de Duplessis, le Gamin
-Cows Creamery - Avonlea clothbound cheddar, cows cheddar
-Bergerie du Fjord - Belle Jersey
-Fromagerie F.X. Piche - Baluchon, Cru de Champlain
-Abbaye St-Benoit du Lac - Ermite, Blue Benedictine
-Fromagerie Champetre - Raclette Champetre
-Fromagerie Eco-Delices - Mamirolle
-Provincial Affineur - Provincial Smoke, Blue Haze, Grapey Goat
-Thornloe Cheese Factory - Evanturel, butter