Cornish Kern, an alpine-style cheese made by the UK’s Lynher Dairies Cheese Company, has been crowned World Champion Cheese at the 30th annual World Cheese Awards, after just a few years in development. 

 

This buttery medium-hard cheese, with a deep aroma and caramel notes, rose to the top among 3,000 entries that were judged in a single day at Tobacco Dock in London recently, said a statement.

 

The 30th anniversary edition of the awards formed part of this year’s Taste of London Festive Edition and saw entries from a record breaking 35 different countries.

 

The winning Cornish Kern now takes its place in the history books alongside previous champions of the largest cheese-only awards scheme on the planet, having impressed the World Cheese Awards’ international panel of experts at every stage of the judging process. 

 

Cathy Strange, global executive coordinator for Whole Foods Market in the USA, championed the cheese during the final round of judging, describing the cheese as: “Visually stunning, with its standout dark rind and the quality of milk is really evident in this cheese. It has an amazing age and a complexity, which keeps on coming. This is a super cheese and I would be glad to have it on any table.”

 

The rest of the International Super Jury, representing nations including Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Norway and South Africa, concurred, awarding Cornish Kern the highest score of the final judging stage.

 

Sarah Barnes, technical manager at Lynher Dairies Cheese Company, who collected the award in London, said: “I’m on top of the cheese world! Throughout the course of the day our Kern went through so many layers of judging, going from 3,001 to 66, to the top 16 and then World Champion and the judges said some wonderful things about our cheese. Cornish Kern is a new concept so to see it come to this is so exciting for the company, and a great start for this cheese’s career.”

 

Cornish Kern was awarded 75 points out of a possible 80 by the Super Jury of 16 judges, just ahead of an Italian Blu Di Bufala made by Quattro Portoni Caseificio in second place with 69 points. In joint third, were an Austrian Capellaro from Almenland Stollenkaese and a South African Dalewood Huguenot made by Dalewood Fromage, both scoring 67 points.  - TradeArabia News Service