Cheese: The World’s Finest Food

#cheese #blue #milk #creme #food #Olavidia #Spain #France #Italy #Greece

"A soft Spanish goat's cheese has done enough to seduce the judges at the World Cheese Awards, with Olavidia being crowned the best cheese in the world and beating more than 4000 entries from over 40 countries on 5 continents" -- Paul Ebeling

The small family-run Spanish cheesemaker, Quesos y Besos (Cheeses and Kisses), located in Jaen, Southern Spain, began making cheese only 5 yrs ago. Head cheesemaker Silvia Peláez was in awe of the win, saying: "Everything we do is inspired by our love for our family, including the name of the business itself, Quesos y Besos (Cheese and Kisses), so this is such a special moment for us. We’ve made it our mission to encapsulate the essence of our family in all of our cheeses."

The winning cheese is matured with Penicillium Candidum and has a distinctive layer of olive stone ash running through its middle, "delivering an exceptional appearance, aroma, texture and flavor, along with bags of originality," according to event organizer.

It was a case of hard cheese for global cheese giants the French, who narrowly missed out in 2nd place with a soft cheese from Fromagerie Berthaut with 98 pts. It was 1 of the 2 French cheeses making the Top 16, while the Netherlands came in 3rd, with 97 pts for a cave-aged gouda. Entries from Japan, the UK, Hungary, Italy, Austria and Sweden also made the Super Gold status.

Last year's winner was Rogue River Blue, an organic blue cheese from Oregon in the USA.

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