The World's Best Cheese Of 2021 Goes To Goat Cheese From Spain

JAKARTA - Soft goat cheese from Spain won first place at the World Cheese Awards, beating 4,079 other types of cheese from more than 40 countries on five continents.

The winner's cheese, called Olavidia, made by cheese maker Quesos y Besos, received 103 votes, beating second place winner, soft cheese from France's Fromagerie Berthaut by 98 votes, leading until the last minute.

A British judge, Jason Hinds, told his fellow judges on the panel before they cast their vote, goat cheese has a "rich, seductive, creamy texture" and "a round, warm flavour."

"I just wanted to sleep with him," Hinds said, smiling, at the ceremony broadcast live by the organizers from the city of Oviedo in northern Spain, citing CNN November 4.

Silvia Pelaez, owner of the winning cheese producer, says, “We are a humble little cheese maker in Jaen,” a city in southern Spain known for its widely exported olives.

"Daily work has its rewards," Pelaez said, adding the cheesemaker, officially known as Lacteos Romero Pelaez, had just six employees.

The goat cheese had a striking black stripe down the center, which the judges mentioned. Competition organizers said the cheese was "ripe with penicillium candidum and olive rock ash." Some comments indicate the ash contributes to the black line.

The previous winner was organic blue cheese, Rogue River Blue, the first American champion in this award. It happened in October 2019 in Bergamo, Italy. Last year, the annual best cheese competition was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of about 250 judges, including food scientists, cheesemongers, chefs and sommeliers, mingled with the cheese and with each other during the competition. It began at 88 tables in a large conference hall, each staffed by three judges who tasted and judged the approximately 45 cheeses spread before them on each table.

They focused on "the look, taste, smell and taste of each entry, assessing aspects such as the appearance of the skin and pasta, as well as the aroma, body, and texture of the cheese, with most points awarded for taste and taste in the mouth," explains the organization's website. the.

Then, the number is reduced to 88 cheeses or one "large cheese" per table. The 88 semifinalists then competed to become the 16 finalists. Their fate is decided by the so-called "super jury" of 16 jurors who have no commercial ties to the cheese producer, the organization said.

In the final round of judging, each of the 16 judges talks about one cheese, praising its characteristics, and then all 16 judges taste the same cheese, and vote by raising a numbered card, on a scale of 1 to 10, awarding points for that cheese, at before the eyes of the auditorium audience. The same method was then used for the other 15 finalists.

The winning goat cheese was the last to be judged among the finalists, and it lasted all day. But is it the best in the world today?

The title is "world champion cheese," John Farrand, managing director of the UK-based Guild of Fine Food, which organizes the cheese awards, told CNN.

"The judges consider it the best cheese in the world. This is a new champion," he said.