Getting Cheesy in New Bothwell

December 19, 2017 Erin Unger Erin's Blog, Food, Places 0

Let’s get one thing straight right now: it’s not New Bothwell Cheese. It’s simply Bothwell Cheese. And it’s award-winning!

When Andrew and I made our little after-work run to New Bothwell, we were focused on reading signs and books and eating kielke at New B’s Café. But when we arrived, we were delighted to discover the cheese factory was still open! The shop is really nice, full of a tonne of freshly-made Bothwell Cheese, they have ALL the flavours… plus some extra-old selections. And it costs less to buy it direct from the factory… as you might expect. We departed the factory with our arms filled with cheese. We’d really hit the jackpot!

I love how everywhere we turned in New Bothwell, there was another allusion to the their epic cheeses. Such as the feature photo for this post, which stars a bright orange pixelated wedge of cheese.

This sign tells you about the… cheesier… aspects of New Bothwell’s history:

Right side of the cairn reads: “1936-Bothwell Co-op Dairy-1994 In 1896, there were 52 cheese factories in Manitoba alone. Of these, only two bonafide cheese factories remain, one of these being the Bothwell Co-op Dairy. Most plants were forced to close their doors because of milk shortages, and with regulations prohibiting raw milk cheese being marketed, and requiring the installation of costly pasteurization equipment. The New Bothwell plant was founded in 1936 by local people and the structure was built by volunteers. In 1967 an addition was built, incorporating the old facilities. Major expansions were done in 1978 and 1986, installing all modern equipment. The plant produces one of Canada’s finest cheeses.”

This is a particular point of pride for me, because I grew up on a dairy farm… I milked cows twice a day, with my mom and grandma. And the milk from our dairy, went to the Bothwell Cheese plant. Naturally, Bothwell Cheese was a staple in my girlhood home. And it’s a staple in the home Andrew and I share today.

Little me, meeting the little cows (aka: calves) on the farm where I grew up.