Photo courtesy of Nicolas Murphy, Special to the Mercury

Terroir products are food items native to a distinct region and have a unique taste attributed to the area they are grown in.

HFTM Professor Mike von Massow's research project is looking at the potential for terroir in Ontario and is optimistic the demand will only grow.

With the success of Ontario-labelled icewine and ginseng, which are already terroir products, von Massow believes other products grown in a unique soil composition or distinctive microclimate in Ontario would make excellent terroir products as well.  These could include honey, apples and cheese.

Collaborators on von Massow's terroir research project include research associate Rob Anderson and Prof. Tanya Maclaurin, School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, Prof. Karen Landman, School of Environmental and Rural Development, Prof. Sylvain Charlebois, Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, and Jean-Pierre Le masson from Université de Québec a Montréal.

Read the full Guelph Mercury story [1].