"The best cheese in the world" was crowned a few days ago at the World Cheese Awards, held in the Spanish city of Oviedo as part of an international cheese festival.
No less than 4,079 soft, hard, skinny, fragrant, yellow, whitish, old-fashioned, fresh cheeses from 45 countries competed, but the winning cheese came from a small dairy based in the Spanish city of Khan, located just 500 kilometers from the festival site.
Meet Olavidia, a soft goat cheese from the Quesos & Besos brand (cheeses and kisses), which was produced in 2017 and won the coveted title after two years in which the competition did not take place due to the corona plague.
The Happy Winner, Photo: International Cheese Festival or World Cheese Awards
British judge Jason Hinds ruled that the cheese "is completely different from anything I've seen to date. It's smooth, warm, tempting and comforting", and even added with a disturbing smile-something he "just wants to get into bed with".
The sensual cheese, it was reported, was aged with the help of a Camembert penicillium mold, and what caught the judges' attention, among other things, was the black stripe in the center, which was actually a thin layer of ash that aids the ripening process.
And if a cheese contest sounds to you like a boring affair that might turn thrills only to smear experts, you may very well be wrong, since nerve-wracking drama was not lacking there.
It turns out that the Spanish cheese, which was the last to be tested in the final stage, received 103 points from the judges, most of which focused on its taste and texture.
The winning cheese overcame at the last minute - and to the amazement of the crowd - a soft French cheese washed in brandy from Fromagerie Berthaut Dairy, but had to settle for second place with 98 points.
Sylvia Plaza, owner of the winning dairy, said excitedly that "the hard work has paid off" and noted that her "modest family dairy" employs only six people.
"We have been making cheeses for less than five years, and we never imagined we would win the most important award in the world of cheese so quickly. It is an amazing and inconceivable achievement," concluded the proud cheesemaker, who also won another award for being the No. 1 woman in the field in 2021.