#1. Armstrong Cheddar, Canada

#1 is not particularly exciting, but it's the first cheese we have tasted since leaving New Zealand.  It was Armstrong mature Cheddar which we purchased in the IGA supermarket at Whistler. 

This cheese is made by Saputo, sort of the Canadian Fonterra, but we suspect most Canadians would not have much of an opinion about Saputo given the relative proportion of dairy income in this country compared to NZ (where everyone seems to have an opinion about Fonterra, whether they know much about it or not).  But anyway, back to the cheese.  Typical Cheddar flavour, similar to a young Tasty cheese in New Zealand but with less grassy/oceanic note, quite well balanced although a hint of bitterness.  Interestingly, the packaging said the moisture content was 39% and the fat content 31%, so to us this didn't really seem like a true Cheddar.  When we melted it in some quesadillas it behaved more like an Edam/Gouda style which, as its composition would have suggested. 

Packaging was pretty simple (no picture sorry) being a clear flow-wrapped sleeve for this 250g block.  The cheese was quite hard to get back into the sleeve when we wanted to put it back in the fridge, but once we managed to poke it back in, the loose wrapping could be folded over to sort of prevent it drying out. 

Hoping #2 is a bit more exotic!