The vote that counts

Next week, the International Cheese Awards at Nantwich will be in a British field in Cheshire, with a record-breaking 5,000 cheeses to judge. I will be there, along with my fellow judges and the rest of the British cheese trade.
It is an exciting time and I am looking forward to once again wielding my cheese iron and discovering new tastes that hopefully lead to lots of gold awards for deserving cheeses. It is also a good time to catch up with people, and I hope to see a lot of your cheesy types there.
The vote for gold and the other trophies to be collected mean a lot to the cheese producers, who work hard throughout the year to develop products that not only will be a delight to the palate, but that will sell well to the public.
It is a delicate balance sometimes, getting the recipes right, getting the ageing process right, and then there’s packaging and promotion. Packaging can let a cheese down, as we know – it’s kind of hard to encase a living thing, after all. However, work is being done, and there are always the traditional methods, which have proven their worth over the years. And, hopefully, if the recipe’s a good one, the outcome will be a quality one.
Over the past few years, I’ve eaten some truly sublime cheeses when judging at the shows. I’ve also eaten ones that I’d rather forget, but it’s always a delight when it all comes together. A great cheese is in the section, and we judges all start smiling at each other. Maybe someone has another taste, and usually we all do before the stickers are awarded. One of life’s pleasures is eating good cheese, and I am delighted that I get to vote for some of the better ones to be flagged to the wider public.

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