Source: U.S. Dairy Export Council
Two U.S. cheeses reached the top echelon last week as Super Gold Medal winners at the World Cheese Awards in Birmingham, England. The annual judging is among the largest of its kind, attracting top cheese judges and authorities from around the world.
A total of 2,629 cheeses competed this year, coming from more than 29 countries, and once again, U.S. artisan and specialty cheese makers had plenty to brag about: 29 U.S. companies received a total of 79 medals.
This year 47 cheeses were awarded Super Gold, advancing to the final round of judging. Among them were Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise from the Farms For City Kids Foundation/Spring Brook Farm, Reading, Vt., and Bella Vita, from Firefly Farms, Accident, Md.
Spring Brook Tarentaise is a “Vermont Alpine Cheese” similar to the Abondance
cheeses of the Rhone Alps of France. Spring Brook Farm spans more than 1,000 acres and is home to over 100 registered Jersey cattle, including 42 milking cows that produce the milk for Tarentaise. The farm is owned by the Farms for City Kids Foundation, a not for-profit organization with an educational component. The animals and the cheese are cared for in part by school children participating in the foundation program. Bella Vita is a mature, Italian-style goat’s milk cheese.
Spring Brook Tarentaise, which was also awarded the U.S. Dairy Export Council sponsored trophy for the “Best U.S. Cow’s Milk Cheese,” is produced under the watch of Jeremy Stephenson, Spring Brook Farm’s head cheese maker.
American participation and impact has grown steadily in the last 10 years, says Bob Farrand, award chairman of the competition, organized by the British Fine Food Guild.
“The ever-growing participation of U.S. cheese into this global competition has
completely transformed the way Europe views U.S. cheese makers,” Farrand says. “It was in the mid-1990s that a single cheese maker entered an 18-month-old Dry Jack from Sonoma County and our judges realized for the first time that U.S. cheese is not all mild processed blocks of yellow. That cheese (Vella Dry Jack) took gold and one of the British judges was heard to comment, ‘if that’s typical of U.S. cheese, Europe needs to watch out.’ ”
