Vermont Business Magazine Parish Hill Creamery from Westminster West, Vermont has been named among the winners at the World Cheese Awards, which was held at the Trondheim Spektrum, Norway, on Friday 27 October. Amidst a field of 4,502 entries, the Parish Hill Creamery secured the following coveted awards in the world’s most distinguished cheese-only competition.
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Humble, Super Gold
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Idyll, Super Gold
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Jack’s Blue, Bronze
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Vermont Herdsman, Bronze
These cheeses impressed a panel of leading cheese experts, including critics, chefs, recipe creators, buyers, retailers, journalists, broadcasters, and experts in the field. These experts meticulously evaluated each cheese, considering factors such as the appearance of the rind and paste, the cheese's aroma, body, texture, and most notably, its flavor and mouthfeel.
“We are thrilled that our cheeses did so well at the World’s this year,” explains Rachel Fritz Schaal, who along with her husband Peter Dixon, owns Parish Hill Creamery. “We’ve always loved this competition in particular as they judge the cheeses on their own merits.”
A remarkable 4,502 cheeses submitted for the 35th edition of the World Cheese Awards, marking a 6% increase from the previous year. These entries represented 43 countries and garnered participation from 954 companies across the world (7.23% UK-based, 92.77% international).
Notably, the competition featured return entries from relative newcomer entrants in recent years including Poland, India, Liechtenstein and Turkey amongst others. Well-established cheese-producing nations such as Italy, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom were well represented by both returning contenders and newcomers, with the highest number of entries coming from Spain. Host country Norway put forward their highest ever number of entries, with 293 Norwegian cheeses competing this year.
Across the competition, a vast range of styles and maturations were on display, showcasing a diverse array of milks including buffalo’s, cows’, goats’ and sheep’s.
All entries were judged in a single day, as 264 experts from 38 different nations studied their appearance, texture, aroma, and flavor. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Super Gold accolades were awarded during the morning session before the Super Golds were reassessed to find this year’s top 16 cheeses, from which the World Champion Cheese for 2023 was selected and crowned.
Judges work in teams of two to three, identifying any cheeses worthy of a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Super Gold award. They assess the look, feel, smell and taste of each entry, scoring aspects such as the appearance of the rind and paste, as well as the cheese’s aroma, body, and texture, with the majority of points awarded for flavor and mouthfeel. Each team then nominates one exceptional cheese as the Super Gold from their table. These cheeses are the best in the world and are judged a second time by the Super Jury of 16 internationally recognized experts, who each select a cheese to champion in the final round of judging. The Super Jury, representing all four corners of the globe, then debates the final 16 in front of a live audience, before choosing the World Champion Cheese live on WCA TV, which is streamed globally on gff.co.uk/wca.
About Parish Hill Creamery - At Parish Hill Creamery we educate, orchestrate, and advocate for the fermentation and transformation of raw milk into exquisite, natural cheese. We make raw milk cheese. We make cheese seasonally - only when the cows are out on the unseeded, hillside pastures that have been grazed rotationally and regeneratively for over 20 years. Parish Hill is the only American cheesemakers in distribution exclusively using natural methods.
Source: Westminster West, VT – (November 13, 2023) Parish Hill Creamery
