Vermont Business Magazine Parish Hill Creamery of Westminster West, Vermont was named among the winners at the World Cheese Awards held at Trondheim Spektrum in Norway on Friday, October 27th. Among a field of 4,502 entries, Parish Hill Creamery secured the following prestigious awards in the world’s most prestigious cheese-only competition.

• Modest, Super Gold

• Idyll, super gold

• Jack’s Blue, bronze

• 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 carefully evaluated each cheese, taking into account factors such as the appearance of the rind and paste, the cheese’s aroma, body, texture and, above all, its taste and mouthfeel.

“We’re thrilled that our cheeses did so well at the World’s Fair this year,” explains Rachel Fritz Schaal, who owns Parish Hill Creamery with her husband, Peter Dixon. “We’ve always loved this competition, especially since they judge cheeses on their own merits.”

A remarkable 4,502 cheeses were entered for the 35th World Cheese Awards, a 6% increase on the previous year. These entries represented 43 countries and attracted participation from 954 companies worldwide (7.23% UK-based, 92.77% international).

Notably, the competition featured return entries from relatively new entrants in recent years, including Poland, India, Liechtenstein and Turkey, among others. Established cheese-producing countries such as Italy, Spain, France and the UK were well represented with both returning and newcomer entrants, with the highest number of entries coming from Spain. Host country Norway submitted its largest number of entries to date, with 293 Norwegian cheeses competing this year.

Many different styles and maturations were on display during the competition, representing a diverse range of milk including buffalo, cow, goat and sheep.

All entries were judged in one day, with 264 experts from 38 different countries examining their appearance, texture, aroma and taste. Bronze, Silver, Gold and Super Gold honors were awarded during the morning session, before the Super Golds were re-evaluated to find the 16 best cheeses of the year, from which the 2023 World Cheese Champion was selected and crowned.

Judges work in groups of two to three and identify cheeses worthy of Bronze, Silver, Gold or Super Gold awards. They judge the look, feel, smell and taste of each entry, scoring aspects such as the appearance of the rind and paste, as well as the aroma, body and texture of the cheese, with the majority of points awarded for taste and mouthfeel. Each team then nominates one outstanding cheese for Super Gold from their table. These cheeses are the best in the world and are judged for the second time by a super jury of 16 internationally recognized experts, who each choose a champion cheese in the final round of judging. The Super Jury, representing all four sides of the world, then debate the final 16 in front of a live audience before selecting the World Cheese Champion live on WCA TV, broadcast worldwide on gff.co.uk/wca.

About Parish Hill Creamery – At Parish Hill Creamery we educate, orchestrate and champion the fermentation and transformation of raw milk into exquisite natural cheese. We make cheese from raw milk. We make cheese seasonally – only when the cows are out on unsown, hilly pastures that have been rotationally and regeneratively grazed for over 20 years. Parish Hill is the only American cheese producer that distributes exclusively using natural methods.

Source: Westminster West, VT – (November 13, 2023) Parish Hill Creamery