Pass the cheese, please

A sample of cheeses available each Saturday at the Elks Lodge sale. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

Iqaluit’s Empire Cheese Club president Sherry Shorthouse, right, with loyal customer Walter Hess. Besides the Saturday stop’n shop at the Elks Lodge, the cheese club shows up
annually at Iqaluit’s Toonik Tyme craft fair and the Christmas sale at Inuksuk High School. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

Sherry Shorthouse asks her customer, pre-purchase, if he knows he selected the garlic kind.

“Is it heavy garlic?” he asks.

“It’s just a nice hint,” she answers.

And the man buys two packs of cheese curds.

“Everybody loves curds,” Shorthouse said—especially jalapeno and garlic.

The Iqaluit woman is seated for her regular Saturday stake-out at the Elks Lodge, selling smooth mozzarellas and artisanal sharp cheddars to city cheese lovers, and loyal members, of the cheese club she founded.

“It’s not a store, it’s a buyers’ club,” said Shorthouse, who dreamed up the Empire Cheese Club during a trip south while picking up her own take-home supply of choice cheeses—and wishing that more specialty products were available in Iqaluit.

Eleven years later, the well-aged club is a community favourite. And, for regulars who have missed the staple of late, club hours are back on schedule after a summer reprieve.

You can get your curds each Saturday afternoon from 2:30 p.m. on through happy hour.

When you do stop by, you’ll find the club’s tabletop pop-up shop is lined with rows of Gouda wedges—each creamy cut boasting blends such as black pepper, sun-dried tomato, honey clover and dill.

Shorthouse said a maple cheddar by the club’s namesake company Empire Cheese Co-op is her best seller.

To pair with that cheese (perhaps a pecan smoked cheddar), Shorthouse also brings in specialty meats such as wine sausage (Chianti and Rosé) and pepperettes, which sell well in the North because they suit outdoor culture, she said.

“They’re perfect for snacks, it’s pocket food if you’re out skidooing or camping—or you can chop them up and put them in spaghetti sauce,” she said. “We eat a lot of jerky up here.”

For Iqaluit bakers and butter lovers, the club’s barrel-churned butter by Stirling Creamery is another crowd favourite.

“They would not be able to keep up with the consumption rate if more people knew about Stirling, because it’s so good,” Shorthouse said.

Besides the Saturday stop’n shop at the Elks Lodge, the cheese club shows up annually at Iqaluit’s Toonik Tyme craft fair and the Christmas sale at Inuksuk High School.

“It’s a Canadian craft,” Shorthouse said, adding that the products are sourced mostly from Ontario.

And how do you get your cheese club membership? You simple give it a thumbs up online.

“I keep track by how many people check ‘like’ on the Facebook page,” Shorthouse said—and right now that means the club has about 250 members.

To place a special order, or to pick up more perishable products such as fresh and spreadable goat cheese, Shorthouse can be contacted through that Facebook page.

But profit is not the purpose, Shorthouse said. Instead the goal is to create variety by bringing in cheese you couldn’t otherwise buy in Iqaluit.

“I didn’t want to compete with the stores,” she said. “If a cheese sells for seven dollars in the Byward Market I might sell it for nine here,” said Shorthouse adding that she tacks on the two dollars to cover First Air cargo.

What she said she would like is for the club to be able to access food subsidies for the cheese sales.

“Even though we are selling a healthy product, I cannot get a freight subsidy under Nutrition North,” Shorthouse said. “They were not interested in giving a subsidy to an organization like this.”

Wholesome ingredients may make cheese a healthy treat but most remain high in sodium and cholesterol, so Shorthouse said she enjoys the creamy commodity in moderation.

Watching customer Walter Hess hand over serious coin for a bag full of the club’s weekly wares, one would think he has little moderation in mind when it comes to fine cheese.

But his picks this week are all special deliveries for family and friends—true to cheese-club culture, Hess said.

“Say cheese,” Hess said, brandishing his golden bounty for a photo with Shorthouse.