International Supreme Champion comes from cave

Wookey Hole Cave Aged cheddar was the top winner at this week’s International Cheese Awards at Nantwich in the UK, where it beat out 3,717 other cheeses from 26 countries to receive the accolade. Mike Pullen, managing director of Ford Farm (pictured with Martin Crabb, Ford Farm operations director), spoke with Dairy Industries International about his feelings on winning the award. “It was a bit like winning the lottery! Out of 3,700 cheeses, they picked ours.”

He further notes the cheese maker has been playing around with the format for the cheese, which is aged for three to six months in the UK’s famous Wookey Hole caves. The resulting cheese picks up the flavours from the caves, giving it a unique taste.

Putting cheese in caves seemed to be a theme at Nantwich. Kaltbach of Switzerland even brought an inflatable cave to the show, offering its Kaltbach Emmentaler AOC to both trade and the public.

Terroir was the word of the day. Garstang, Lancashire-based Dewlay, for example, has rebranded itself as Cheesemakers of Garstang along with revamped packaging for its selection of cheeses. It collected silverware at the show, in the form of a bronze for its Red Leicester and a silver for its creamy Leicester and Double Gloucester, as well as a gold gong for its tasty Lancashire.

Managing director Nick Kenyon notes, however, that like other cheese makers, the issue of milk supply going forward is going to be a bit problematic, as British milk supplies have tightened and farm gate prices have hit 30 pence per litre on the spot market. “It is challenging, but we’re progressing,” he says.

Richard Paul, chairman of the show, also notes that the whole event is somewhat unique. The more than 59,000 square foot tent was increased in size to accommodate all the cheeses, which increased by 15 per cent over 2010, Paul says. “It is the largest single temporary structure anywhere in Europe at the moment, and it’s filled with cheese.”