Food
Westby’s Hidden Springs Creamery big winner in US cheese championships, as multiple Coulee Region cheeses win awards
Some local cheesemakers are the best in the country after this year’s US Championship Cheese Contest in Green Bay.
Wisconsin cheesemakers came away with 55 Best of Class finishes in the 117 classes of cheeses judged at the competition.
Hidden Springs Creamery in Westby, Wis., was the big winner from the Coulee Region.
It took Best of Class in the Flavored Sheep’s Milk Cheeses. It swept the Top 3 spots and six of the nine entries in the class. The winner was the Driftless Habanero Honey.
Hidden Springs also took a second award in the Hard Sheep’s Milk Cheeses class, and a third award in the Soft & Semi-Soft Sheep’s Milk Cheeses class.
The Blair Team from AMPI picked up a Best of Class in the Sharp Cheddar (6 months to 1 year) class for its AMPI Sharp Cheddar entry. The team finished seventh in the Aged 1-2 years Cheddar class.
Unsalted Butter was a winner for Al Bekkum of Westby’s Nordic Creamery. His Nordic Creamery Unsalted Butter won Best of Class in that category.
Foremost Farms USA-Sparta had its entry in the Non-Fat Dry Milk and Skim Milk Powder class take a Best of Class. Another one of its entries came in fourth.
La Crosse’s Great Lakes Cheese Company did well in the national competition. In the Pasteurized Process Cheese and Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread classes, the LaX Loaf, LaX Loaf 2, Lewy’s Crew 4, Night Crew, and the Gouda Fellas had multiple finishes between 5th and 15th in those classes.
Lastly, the Mindoro Team from Prairie Farms in Mindoro, won a Third Award for its Prairie Farms Mindoro Collection Gorgonzola cheese. They placed 9th with an entry in the Blue Veined Chesses class and 7th in the Open Class: Cheeses with Blue Molding.
Westby Cooperative Creamery placed 7th and 9th in the Cottage Cheese class. In between, in 8th, was an entry from the WW Homestead Dairy in Waukon, Iowa.
In all, 31 states were represented in the contest, which is held every two years.
A total of 2,414 entries were judged at the competition, hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.
The overall winner was the first back-to-back winner in the competition’s history. Arethusa Europa from Connecticut won with an aged gouda entry.
It was close though. The first runner-up was a Pennsylvania cheese that scored one-one hundredth of a point behind the winner.
A parmesan cheese from Turtle Lake, Wis., finished eight-hundredths of a point off the winner.
