Cabot Creamery Cooperative enhanced its blue-ribbon tradition as makers of "The World's Best Cheddar" by earning a gold medal in the prestigious Aged Cheddar category in consecutive competitions. Cabot was honored with three first-place awards and seven ribbons total, including sweeping the Cottage Cheese category at this week's 2014 World Championship Cheese Contest.
The judging, conducted in Madison, Wisconsin, is the largest technical cheese and butter competition in the world.
Cabot earned the following "Best of Class" recognitions:
-1st Place: Cheddar Aged Two Years or Longer: Cabot Vintage Choice Cheddar
-1st Place: Pepper Flavored "American" Style Cheeses: Cabot Hot Buffalo Wing Cheddar
-1st Place: Cottage Cheese: Cabot Vermont Cottage Cheese
The historic dairy cooperative made four additional podium appearances, including:
-Cottage Cheese: 2nd & 3rd Places – for a sweep of gold, silver and bronze
-Cheddar Aged Two Years or Longer: 3rd Place – in addition to winning gold
-Cheddar, Medium (3-6 Mo.): 3rd Place – as well as a 4th place showing
Cabot's medal tally was its best ever at this international event. In all, Cabot's cheese and butter makers placed 19 entries among the "Top 10" in their various product classes, including Cabot Mild Cheddar, Cabot Sharp Cheddar, Cabot Sharp Extra Light Cheddar, Cabot 83 Score Butter, Cabot Unsalted Butter and Cabot Monterey Jack.
"We're extremely proud of our strong showing at this year's World Championships," remarked Dr. Richard Stammer, Cabot President and CEO. "The secret is quite simply the excellent milk provided by the 1,200 family farms who own Cabot. Once placed in the care of our talented employees, a special dairy alchemy occurs which can indeed result in competition gold."
The World Championship Cheese Contest celebrated its 30th anniversary this year by drawing a record 2,615 entries from 22 countries worldwide. An international panel of 50 expert judges from 19 nations and 14 states evaluated the entries across 90 classes of cheese and butter. Entries are judged on a 100-point scale with technical deductions assigned during examination of traits such as flavor, body, texture, finish and packaging.
"We take the judging very seriously," noted Cabot senior cheese grader, Craig Gile, who served as a judge at this year's competition. "Cabot's products were evaluated by top cheese experts from around the world including: Australia, Switzerland, Greece, South Africa, Croatia, Italy, Denmark, France and the United States. The competition is fierce so it's always great to see Cabot products do so well on the world stage. With results like this year, it's a proud day for everyone associated with our cooperative."
