Planet Earth has a new best cheese. Last week at the World Cheese Awards in Wales, a panel of judges — including cheesemakers, cheesemongers, buyers, chefs, retailers and writers — tasted 4,434 cheeses to crown a winner for 2022. Cheesemaker Vorderfultigen and refiner Gourmino took home the top prize with their Le Gruyère AOP surchoix, a matured raw cow’s milk cheese from Switzerland. According to a statement from The Guild of Fine Food, the winning cheese was described as a “really perfect handcrafted cheese, smooth in your mouth and melting on your tongue” by Super Jury member Christian Zuercher.
“What a finale,” said John Farrand, managing director of The Guild of Fine Food. “This year’s World Cheese Awards has been a huge success and Wales has been the perfect canvas for this colourful event. We’ve seen more entries than ever before and it’s great to see such a range of styles and regions represented. To crown Le Gruyère AOP surchoix as this year’s World Champion Cheese is so well deserved. The judges in the room today, our cheese experts from all over the world, were clearly blown away by the quality of the cheese and dedication shown by the cheesemakers.”
This year saw a record-breaking number of entries vying for the top spot. Each cheese was scored on rind appearance, aroma, body, texture and, most importantly, flavor and mouthfeel. Bronze, Silver, Gold and Super Gold awards were up for grabs. Italian cheesemaker De’Magi came in second place with their Gorgonzola Dolce DOP, and one American-made cheese made it into the top 16 — Greensward from Murray’s Cheese in NYC.
Sadly, there are no statistics on how much Lactaid was consumed during the event.
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