Our cheeses contain only natural ingredients, no preservatives are added, and they are all manufactured at our Salmon Arm cheese plant.

Our cheese is made from the milk that is produced by our cows on our own farm. Our cows are Grass Fed Only, they graze on our pastures from May to October and we feed them organic hay in the winter months.

OUR HISTORY

In 1981, the Gort family immigrated from Holland and purchased a 45-acre farm at Salmon Arm. Gort's Gouda Cheese Farm was established in 1983.

In August 2007, ownership of the farm switched to the Wikkerinks', a family from Agassiz.

At first, we made plain Gouda and Quark. Quark is a soft German cream cheese.

As the years passed, we expanded into making different spiced Gouda's, Maasdammer (a Swiss-style cheese), yogurt.

Over the years, we have not been hesitant to experiment with our cheese flavours, and have recently brought into production a new cheese we call Mazuda (it is a semi hard cheese with the zip from a Swiss style cheese but the texture is more like a Gouda).

In 2009 we started selling our cows milk in glass bottles.

We are also proud of a Champion Firm Cheese Gold Medal which was awarded in 2004 at the Canadian Grande Prix.

Sales started with just local sales but has grown to include going up and down the Okanagan and also a good distribution in the Vancouver area.

We deliver to these areas weekly.

We take pride in the fact that twenty years later our artisan cheese is delivered to a variety of locations in the Shuswap, Okanagan, and the Lower-Mainland of British Columbia. Cheese is also shipped throughout the rest of Canada via Canada Post.

CHEESE MAKING

The city in Holland where the Gouda recipe originates is Gouda, where cheesemaking is a time-old art. Making cheese, especially on the farm, has always been part of Dutch culture.

Cheesemaking is an art as well as a science.

Timing, temperature and cleanliness are extremely important.

To deliver the best quality product to our customer, we work diligently to maintain excellence in the manufacture of our products.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We do not add any preservatives to any of our products, they are all natural. For all our cheese we only use a microbial rennet called Chymosin.

What makes our cheese and fresh products special, is the milk that comes from our very own grass-fed only cows.

The cows get 3 to 6 times more nutrients from the grass, than pasteurized milk from grain-fed cows.

The major fats present in grass-fed cows' milk are Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and Omega-3 Fatty Acids.

These are considered to be the "good fats".

Studies on CLA have shown that it is protective against a variety of cancers, and promotes the deposition of muscle, as opposed to fat.

Other nutrients high in content of grass-fed milk are beta-carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E. Vitamin E has been studied to show that it is linked with lowering one's risk of developing heart disease and cancer.

Also because grass-fed animals contain fat-soluble vitamins in their butterfat, the consumer acquires adequate mineral absorption and endocrine function.

IS CHEESE FATTENING?

Many consumers have a preconceived idea that any kind of cheese they eat will make them fat.

This idea is far from the truth, especially concerning Gouda cheese.

Alongside the fact that grass-fed cows produce milk high in beneficiary fats and vitamins, Gouda, especially aged Gouda, has also been shown to have high amounts of Vitamin K2.

Vitamin K2 helps facilitate the movement of calcium from the arteries to the bones.

This reduces the risk of acquiring heart disease, as calcification in the arteries is lessened and proper blood flow is allowed.

Also because the calcium is transported to the bones to make them nice and strong, the risk of developing osteoporosis is also reduced.

Other studies show that Gouda helps reduce the chance of acquiring diabetes or Alzheimer's disease. So if anything, Gouda is quite beneficiary to one's health!

WHAT IS CHYMOSIN?

A recent change to our ingredient list is that Chymosin is now listed rather than Microbial Rennet.

Nothing has changed in our cheese making process, but this is the proper term required to be on our label.

Pure Fermentation-Produced Chymosin is a Milk clotting enzyme. It is kosher, halal and vegetarian. Chymosin makes an excellent coagulator of our milk.

ARE ALL OF OUR PRODUCTS MADE WITH MILK FROM COWS WITH THE A2 PROTEIN?

No, Currently only our bottled milk is made solely with milk from cows with the A2/A2 protein.

Our second herd is being bred towards having the A2 protein only and their milk is used for the yogurt, quark and cheese.