RALEIGH — Chapel Hill Creamery took top honors in the first-ever N.C. State Fair Cheese Competition.
The dairy’s Calavander asiago cheese won Best of North Carolina and Best of Show, in addition to winning a gold medal for best hard cheese. Chapel Hill Creamery also won gold medals in the Swiss Styles, Mozzarella, Flavored Soft Cheese and Semi-Soft Cheese categories.
Judging took place Oct. 6. A team of four judges rated the cheeses on technical and aesthetic merits using the American Cheese Society’s point system: gold medal, 93-100 points; silver, 86-92; and bronze, 80-85.
Following is a list of honorees by category:
Swiss Styles
•Gold medal, Chapel Hill Creamery, Chapel Hill
Mozzarella
•Gold medal, Chapel Hill Creamery
Feta
•Silver medal, Bonnie Blue Farm, Waynesboro, Tenn.
Flavored Soft Cheese
•Gold medal, Chapel Hill Creamery
•Silver medal, Prodigal Farm, Rougemont
Open Class for Semi-Soft Cheese
•Gold medal, Chapel Hill Creamery
•Silver medal, Bonnie Blue Farm, Waynesboro, Tenn.
Open Class for Hard Cheese
•Gold medal, Chapel Hill Creamery
Goat’s Milk Fresh Chevre Cheese (Flavored)
•Gold and silver medals, Bonnie Blue Farm, Waynesboro, Tenn.
•Bronze medal, Holly Grove Farms, Goldsboro
Goat’s Milk Fresh Chevre Cheese (Unflavored)
•Gold medal, Holly Grove Farms, Goldsboro
•Silver medal, Prodigal Farm, Rougemont
•Bronze medal, Bonnie Blue Farm, Waynesboro, Tenn.
Goat’s Milk Aged Cheese
•Gold medal, Prodigal Farm, Rougemont
•Silver and bronze medals, Bonnie Blue Farm, Waynesboro, Tenn.
All cheeses in the contest will be available for purchase at the Dairy Artisan Tent during the State Fair, Oct. 13-23. The tent is located in front of the Jim Graham Building.
Source: N.C. State Fair Cheese Competition