At first glance soap, glass and cheese would seem to have little in common but this morning they were to form ‘The Craftsman’s’ Road” – the theme of our morning tour in the Le Baie area close to the ship. With the closure of the local main employer – the pulp and paper factory – Saguenay has turned to tourism for salvation and has cleverly put together three local craft based businesses to form what was to be an interesting and tasty morning.
We began with the handmade soap factory where the rather extrovert and ‘sexy’ owner described why his products were so much better than the industrial offerings we buy off the shelf in our supermarkets – his products are full of olive oil, beeswax and other natural perfumes and products, lovingly stirred by his own fair hands – well actually the rather pretty young ladies he employed – and left to mature for up to three months before being packaged. He certainly had soap, creams and potions for almost all skin conditions – at a suitable price of course.
A quick hop and a step across the road and we entered the glass blowing workshop of Mr Guiseppe Benedetto. It was clear from the moment we entered the factory that Mr Benedetto had been trained in Murano. In fact the last time I was in a glass factory was in Murano again with my Stepmother Peg when we had cruised to Venice. Over the next 30minutes we were treated to a wonderful demonstration of the glassblowers skill as Mr Benedetto who had come to Canada when he was 15 and set up his workshop some 20 years ago after training in Murano made a glass ball to hang in a window and a blue whale. Fascinating to see how the molten glass is shaped and cut in short deft movements each step lasting no more than a minute or so before the glass was put back in the ‘glory hole’ to keep it at working temperature.
The glassware on display in his boutique was irresistible and I bought a blue whale similar to the one shown in the photo to join my dolphin from Murano.
Our last visit this morning was on the road back towards Chicoutimi to a family run sheep farm – two brothers and their wives – of Les Bergeries du Fjord to discover the art of cheese making. I suppose I knew that you can make cheese from ewe’s milk but it was still interesting nevertheless to hear and see how the cheese at this farm was produced on a semi-industrial scale. The milking herd of ewes numbers 210, the minimum number required to have 75 ewes giving milk at any one time in the year since a ewe is pregnant for 5 months and gives milk for 5 months.
This farm only milks once a day with each ewe giving abut a litre per day – they are looking for quality with high protein and fat rather than quantity and to achieve this the ewes are fed on dry hay and grain with a higher green grass content when they are pregnant. We walked through the one of the barns in which the milking ewes are kept – a rather smelly and noisy experience – evidently the ewes were in sound voice for our visit! – although ‘their thunder was stolen’ by a charming family of black and white kittens who roamed the barn just waiting to be cuddled and stroked by a group of tourists whilst the ewes got on with the important job of munching clean, fresh hay.
Once in the cheese factory proper we were treated to a tasting of two types of cheese made from the ewe’s milk and two from Jersey cow milk courtesy of the farm owner’s neighbour. The cheese was accompanied by local ‘ice cider’ (Made from apples that are left to freeze on the trees before being processed, ice wine which is abranded product in Canada is made from grapes in the same way) – flavoured with raspberries.
The cheese we sampled is made from unpasteurised milk ad in order to be able to sell such cheese legally it has to be stored for 60 days by which time the balance of good bacteria has overwhelmed and killed off the bad such as ecoli. All I can say is that the cheeses were full of flavour and I would have loved to smuggle one back on the ship but that would definitely not be allowed. Not surprisingly the cheese produced at this farm has one numerous awards in Canada.
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