Cheeses of Oka
A Quebec village on the Lake of Two Mountains where Trappist monks created Oka, a washed-rind cheese, in the 1890s.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: June to October, with apples in September.
Oka is a village on the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains, west of Montreal. Trappist monks founded the abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac here in 1881. In 1893 Brother Alphonse Juin arrived from France with a recipe for Port Salut cheese, which he adapted into Oka, a washed-rind cheese that became one of Canada's best known.
Oka cheese
Oka is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese with a copper-orange rind, washed by hand during ageing. It has a pungent smell and a creamy, nutty taste. The monks made it for nearly a century before selling the recipe in 1981 to a dairy co-operative, which still makes it in the village. The monks later moved to a new abbey in Lanaudière.
The abbey and the lake
The old abbey buildings, now a heritage site, stand among orchards on the slopes above the village. Oka National Park protects beaches, wetlands and the Calvary of Oka, a hill with old chapels. The Kanien'kehá:ka community of Kanesatake neighbours the village. A ferry crosses the lake to Hudson in the warmer months.
A trail idea for Oka
- Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac The former Trappist abbey where Oka cheese was born.
- Village cheese shop Taste Oka of different ages in the village.
- Oka National Park Walk the Calvary trail and the lakeshore.
- Orchards Pick apples on the hills in autumn.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Oka, Quebec" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Oka: User Y6y6y6 on en.wikipedia, Public domain, source