International Cheese Awards

The 115th International Cheese Awards took place yesterday and today at Nantwich.  Normally the event is part of Nantwich Show, but sadly this year that  had to be cancelled because of the wet conditions.  


However the International Cheese Awards are well worth a visit even when Nantwich Show isn't on.  This year there was nearly 4,000 entries, from all over the world (even China) in a giant 70,000 square feet refrigerated marquee!

Celebrity chefs, like Gino D'Acampo and Jean-Christophe Novelli:

and James Martin:

show you new ways of cooking with cheese (click here for some recipes).

Best of all you can meet producers, like actor turned cheese maker Sean Wilson:

of the Saddleworth Cheese Comapany and taste and buy their cheeses.

It's amazing the diversity of our cheeses, like the colourful display from J J Sandham shown at the top of this post.

You can also see new dairy products, like Shaken Udder's milk shakes:

made with milk naturally enriched with selenium.

Some of the cheese boards are works of art:

I rather liked this Lion:

I thought I'd finish this post with one of my favourites. I've had Cornish Yarg before:

It's a delicious semi-hard cheese, wrapped in nettle leaves).  Now Lynher Dairies  also do a wild garlic version, which I think is even better!

Web: www.internationalcheeseawards.co.uk