Religious life doesn't have the following it once had and now a hand-made cheese crafted by a Manitoba monk may be travelling down a similar path.
80-year old Brother Alberic said he is the last monk in North America making a particular type of cheese through an ancient method.
A monk since the age of 16, he has been making the cheese for 60 years.
He said he doubts there will be anyone to take his place after he's gone and then the only place to find the cheese will be in France.
'Trappist cheese' originated in 12th-century France.
The recipe was passed down to monks in Manitoba from monks in Quebec who arrived in the province in 1892.
The cheese is made at the Notre-Dame –des-Prairie Monastery located south of Holland on Highway 34.
“The taste is not a strong cheese, but is not a mild cheese. is a tasty cheese,” said Brother Alberic from the cellar where the cheese ripens.
“That's why lots of cheese you buy in the market, they are pasteurized, They don't taste nothing."
Once prepared, the bricks must ripen underground, and must be washed in a brine every day for two months, before the cheese is ready to eat.
Brother Alberic has no helper, and no cheesemaker in training.
"Anybody that suffers from claustrophobia cannot work here,” he said.
“It's a boring life, dim, just wash this for hours and hours, the head turns with cheese.”
Despite what people might believe, the recipe isn’t a secret.
"No, no, no. I gave instructions to 2 or 3 already they want to learn how to make it, but nobody wants to wash the cheese." said Brother Alberic.
He said the real secret is in the way the cheesemaker observes the cheese as it ripens – to see if it needs more brine or less.
Trappist Cheese is sold in Winnipeg at Fenton’s Gourmet Foods, Deluca’s, Piazza De Nardi, and the Trappist Monastery on Highway 34, south of Holland.
