Norway's Kraftkar has been designated as 'World Champion Cheese' at the World Cheese Awards for 2016.
The dairy delight, produced by Tingvollost, was given the coveted award at the Kursaal Congress Centre in San Sebastián during the first day of the International Cheese Festival on Wednesday.
The blue cheese won 81 points out of 90, beating out 3,000 other competitors from 31 countries. It was awarded the top prize by an international jury made up of judges from Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, and Spain, among others.
Judge Nick Tsioros, owner of Olympic Cheese in Toronto, said, “This 12-month aged blue cheese is wonderfully balanced, it has a great crumbly texture, but is soft and smooth on the tongue. The mould has developed nicely and comes across really well in the overall flavour of the cheese."
Gunnar Waagen from Tingvollost was ecstatic, explaining, “I have no words, this is marvellous news! We are a family-run farm and work long days to make our cheese. We get up early every day and go to bed very late to make the best cheese we can, and so to win this award, I am very proud.”
This year was the 29th edition of the competition.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
