Do plant-based products belong in a cheese competition? As we cheese lovers learned in January, a plant-based entry was a finalist in the Good Food Awards’ cheese category. That’s a first. Many people, including me, weren’t even aware that non-dairy foods could compete in the category, which specifies that the entries be “made with milk from animals raised using good animal husbandry.”
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Good Food Award Finalist: Pennyroyal Farm Boont Corners Reserve
The cheeses I love are a collaboration between humans and animals. Milk, culture, enzymes and salt plus centuries of passed-down expertise. But I may need to rethink that. Last week, for the first time, a plant-based product was named a finalist for a Good Food Award in the cheese category. I wasn’t even aware that plant-based products could enter, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about this news. If cheese isn’t from milk, what is cheese? I reached out to some people whose opinions I value—retailers, cheesemakers, writers—for their thoughts on this shifting landscape. Is it time to redefine cheese in a way that embraces non-dairy alternatives?
Read moreCheese Judging in Covid Times
No Summer Olympics. No James Beard Awards, at least not for chefs. No American Cheese Society conference. Not even a Miss America pageant. We’re becoming so accustomed to events being canceled that’s its noteworthy when they aren’t. When the Good Food Awards Foundation announced that it was moving forward with its annual competition and awards, I was pretty skeptical, because…well…tasting. In groups. But they figured it out. I was a Good Foods Awards cheese judge last weekend and the crazy scheme worked.
Read moreAlready a Winner
The number of American creameries making raw-milk cheese from their own grass-fed animals is minuscule and not likely to climb. It’s a risky business model given the unpredictability of the FDA and its rule-making around raw-milk cheese. Plus, there aren’t that many places in the U.S. where livestock can be outside, eating grass, all year. So you have to applaud those who still take this traditional path and (the “and” is important) consistently produce distinctive, well-made cheeses. In that light, it’s time for a shout-out to Georgia’s Sweet Grass Dairy and its newest creation, Griffin, a recent Good Food Award winner.
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