Klein River Cheese Grana, a slow matured hard cheese, produced by Klein River Cheese outside Stanford, triumphed over more than 800 dairy products to be named South Africa’s 2014 Dairy Product of the Year.
A taste of the best cheese in South Africa, Klein River Cheese Grana. #sadairychamps @FarmersWeeklySA @SACheeseFest pic.twitter.com/dXa4lXeIMz
— Denene Erasmus (@agri_erasmus) April 23, 2014
Some 15 exceptional dairy products earned the coveted Qualité mark of excellence and an additional 95 products were lauded as SA Champions during the recent DuPont Qualité Awards Dinner for the South African Dairy Championships in Cape Town.
A total of 68 producers entered 821 products in the categories for butter, cheese, cottage cheese, yoghurt, flavoured milk, dairy dips, ice cream and dairy dessert.
Ulf Mortensen, one of the 58 judges who decided the winners in the competition, said in a statement that the general level of quality of the entries has improved since he last judged at the SA Dairy Championships in 2012.
“The vast majority of samples were of reasonably good to very good quality,” he said. “My contribution would be to encourage cheese makers to make sure that a cheese is not simply good tasting, but in fact also attractive to look at. After all, consumers buy with their eyes first, then on account of smell and finally the taste.”
Chief judge Kobus Mulder said it was usually a tough challenge to choose the best product in each class. But the Klein River Cheese Grana so impressed the judges with its great taste and typical texture they were unanimous in selecting it the overall winner.
