Regionals win out at Nantwich
It may be some miles south of Bullsnape Brook of where Greenfields Dairy produces its award-winning cheese in the UK. However, the judges in a 83,000 square foot tent just outside Nantwich voted the producer’s Farmhouse Traditional Crumbly Lancashire Cheese as Supreme Champion this year, handing the Reserve Supreme Champion gong to E M Treur en Zn. BV with its Jerseyhoeve Dieken (extra Belegen) from the Netherlands.
“We knew that this year’s show was going to be a pretty spectacular affair, but it exceeded all our wildest dreams by breaking a whole string of records. In total, we received an astonishing 4,615 entries (a 3.5 per cent increase on last year’s all-time high), from 274 exhibitors (13.5 per cent up on last year) based in 31 different countries,” the organisers say.
The overseas winners were also worthy of their triumphs, with a Manchego from Bradburys Cheese emerging as Reserve Supreme Champion Overseas.
The Supreme Retailer for 2015 was once again awarded to Waitrose. This award is for the retailer gaining most gold awards in the show, with Bracknell, UK-based Waitrose walking away with 26 gold awards from 77 classes. Tesco came in second with 18 golds. Meanwhile, Asda picked up Retail Awards for cheddar cheese and Healthy Cheese Retailer of the year, with Co-Op awarded Speciality Cheese Retailer of the year and Morrisons winning Cheese Board Retailer of the year.
Former British Cheese Board (BCB) Secretary Nigel White has continued to collect accolades, as he received the BCB Nantwich Show Cheese Industry award at the show in recognition of his invaluable contribution to the UK dairy industry.
White, who recently stepped down as Secretary of both the British Cheese Board and the Stilton Cheese Makers’ Association, began his dairy career in 1971 at the Milk Marketing Board. In 1996 he was appointed Secretary of the British Cheese Board, overseeing and leading in all matters concerning marketing and promotion to celebrate great British cheeses. During his tenure he also acted as the spokesperson for the organisation.
Dr Judith Bryans, Chief Executive of Dairy UK, says, “Nigel has dedicated his entire career to promoting our great British cheeses – his commitment has been unfaltering over the years. I am delighted that Nigel is being acknowledged for his dedication to the British cheese industry, he is a very worthy recipient.
“Over the years the BCB has done a tremendous job in promoting British cheese. Its incorporation into Dairy UK demonstrates the unswerving commitment across the industry to maximise the promotion of our tasty, versatile and nutritious home-grown cheeses.”
On presenting Nigel with his award, celebrity chef Peter Sidwell says, “Over the course of a 44 year long career, Nigel has been a passionate champion of British cheese. I was delighted to hand out this award to a great cheese enthusiast on behalf of the cheese industry.”
White says, “I am absolutely thrilled to be the recipient of this year’s Cheese Industry Award. After dedicating my career to promoting and protecting the British cheese industry, it is a true honour to be recognised today by my peers. Britain produces some of the finest cheeses in the world and it is an industry I am extremely proud to be a part of.”
Other winners
Dairy Crest’s Davidstow Creamery in the UK, home to Cathedral City and Davidstow, notes that it won three gold awards, including best vintage Cheddar for Davidstow Three Year Old and Best Single Mature for Davidstow Classic; as well as three silver awards, including those within the Extra Mature Cheddar Cheese and Vintage Cheddar Cheese categories, and two additional bronzes. Further Davidstow cheeses were also commended and the creamery brought home a gold in the Spreadable butter category. Meanwhile Dairy Crest’s Chard plant won a gold and two silvers within cream.
Dairy Crest’s Master Cheese Grader, Mark Pitts-Tucker, comments: “It has been another fantastic year at the ICA’s for Dairy Crest and we are absolutely thrilled to once again be going home with so many gold awards. Everyone involved in the cheese making process at Dairy Crest works incredibly hard to ensure that every single piece of cheese we produce meets the extremely high standards we set. We are also continuously working and developing our NPD pipeline and have some very exciting activity planned for the coming year.”
Elaine Mc Cague, market manager for cathedral City, echoes Pitts-Tucker’s comments. “We are focusing on snacking going forward with cheese. It is a good alternative to sugary snacks for children.”
The firm is also looking to increase cheese use within meals, to show consumers how much cheese adds to a meal. Its Davidstow brand in particular is working to get more people to try it.
Winners in training
Meanwhile, Reaseheath College trained dairy technologists struck gold three times at the show. The students, who are studying on the Cheshire college’s Eden programme, took gold awards in the Specialist Cheesemakers section in classes for cheddar and crumbly territorial cheeses and also won the highly competitive Student Cheesemaker class.
They also took a silver and two highly commended awards in the Student Cheesemaker class and a further highly commended in the open cheddar cheese class. The Student Cheesemaker class was newly sponsored by Reaseheath College.
The Eden programme is an education initiative from dairy companies who recognise the importance of investing in employees. The technicians attend Reaseheath on a block release basis to study for an internationally recognised foundation degree in Dairy Technology, which includes practical training in the college’s industry standard dairy processing halls. They spend the rest of their time extending their experience in the workplace.
Now in its seventh year, the three-year course covers relevant topics ranging from dairy chemistry and microbiology to continuous improvement and cheese making.
Said course manager Debbie Heritage-Brill: “We are delighted at the success of these second year students, particularly against such strong competition from within the industry.”
Judging the classes
After a morning spent judging rather fragrant and crumbly territorials, plus a few cheeses with inclusions, I was ushered over to two tables and a pair of smiling women. Greeted by Michael Dale, the owner of Umami Delicatessen, as a fellow judge, I asked the one woman if these was the table of halloumi cheeses for us to judge. “Tables, there’s two,” she replied, gesturing behind her with a spatula. Oh. On the two tables sat 27 pieces of halloumi to be cut, grilled and served up.
Halloumi is a cheese of Cypriot origin, without a protected designation of origin. It has moved from being available in the occasional Turkish food outlet to being found on most supermarket shelves in the UK. An informal polling has found that Americans have yet to sample the delights of halloumi, but I’ll bet once this cheese takes hold in the US, it will become a firm favourite. After all, what is not to like about grilled cheese?
On to the tasting. It became a bit of a social thing, as everyone had a piece of the grilled cheeses – stewards, judges. It was a bit like standing around a barbecue with the grills on, toasting the cheese. Michael and I ploughed through them all, ranging from a distinctly scrambled egg-like texture to one of milky creaminess and mint, highlighted by the heating. Mixtures of milk ranging from cow, sheep and goat were all offered, including mixes of all three types. We re-tasted all the ones we had starred, and were happy to discover there were fairly clear-cut awards to be given.
Probably the only downside is that all the tasting has put me off halloumi for a bit. That being said, I will gladly chase down A.P. Polycarpou & Sons Farm’s, John & Pascalis or Aegean Heritage’s offerings for my next halloumi purchase. I suspect I have now had a taste of the next big thing in cheese. Halloumi is set to go stratospheric like its fellow Mediterranean cheese, Feta.
