A man who made cheese for 60 years is retiring, but the traditional Trappist style in which he made it lives on through a Winnipeg couple.

Dustin Peltier learned how to make fromage de la trappe from Brother Albéric at the Notre Dame des Prairies monastery near Holland, Manitoba, and has taught the technique to his partner, Rachel Isaak.

Peltier says only about four people in North America know how to make it in the traditional Trappist way.

"The recipe dates back to the 1700s. So they make cheese in the old traditional style, so it's aged for a month in a cellar, and it's hand-washed every day -- each wheel... so it's a raw (cow's) milk cheese," says Peltier.

Isaak wasn't allowed in the back of the monastery because she's a woman, but Peltier says Brother Albéric was insistent that he teach her.

"He was very adamant that when he teaches me that I go home and teach Rachel. He was super ecstatic that we were younger and were wanting to carry it on, and that we have kids and they might possibly -- you know, he spent 60+ years of his life making this cheese and, you know, it could've just stopped," says Peltier.

Peltier lived in a guest house at the monastery for a week. Peltier and Isaak say both taste and coolness-factor drew them to the cheese.

"He (Brother Albéric) was using the cheese at his restaurant we both love it, and then we read an article about how he was looking for someone to teach because there's no one to apprentice... so we decided it was worth driving out there to talk to him," says Isaak.

Peltier says they're both chefs who've been in the food business for about 20 years. Isaak says she's been playing with soft cheeses for 15 years but it was only October when they got into hard cheeses.

Peltier's used Trappist cheese at his restaurant, on cheese boards and burgers. He says since they've really delved in, they've been playing with a lot of different recipes.

"We've made cheese crisps... Rachel came up with this great ice cream with it a little while back," he says.

Isaak describes Trappist cheese as semi-firm, and not strong like a blue but more potent than a brie.

"It's got a salty rind that kind of gives it a different texture because the outside's a little bit more firm and the inside's a lot softer but it still has texture to it, it's not gooey," she says.

Peltier says it's got a pungent, earthy kind of flavour.

When it comes to making and selling fromage de la trappe themselves, Peltier says they've been going back and forth with Brother Albéric and working through regulations for a year; he says there've been ups and downs but they're getting closer. They won't be able to call their product Trappist cheese, but they're trying to come up with a name that still ties into the monastery and tradition behind it. They're in the process of getting cerification to work with unpasteurized milk, which is used to make the cheese. They're also in the midst of building a facility that they expect to open early in the new year.