Key Summary
- World’s largest cheese competition held at Staffordshire County Showground
- Pilgrims Choice wins three major trophies, plus seven more
- New blended flavours 'sweep cheese board'
Pilgrims Choice, the UK’s No.2 cheddar brand, has been recognised at this year’s International Cheese and Dairy Awards – the world’s largest cheese competition. Held at the Staffordshire County Showground, this year’s competition featured over 3,750 entries from across the globe which were judged by leading industry experts and master cheese graders.
Pilgrims Choice Extra Mature Cheddar was honoured by winning three major trophies namely The Reserve Champion Overseas; Champion Overseas Cheddar and Best Irish Cheddar. In addition, Pilgrims Choice also won a further seven awards including 3 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze. The Golds included one for Pilgrims Choice Extra Mature in the Irish Cheddar class and a second for Pilgrims Choice Mature in the Mature Cheddar class for non-UK producers.
The recently launched Pilgrims Choice Inclusions range of blended cheeses that tap into cutting-edge food trends and multiple usage occasions was also recognised. In the hotly-contested Best Additive Cheese category for UK and Republic of Ireland cheesemakers Pilgrims Choice swept the board with:
- Pilgrims Choice ‘The Mexican One’ which combines smoked paprika and smoked water, for a deep umami flavour, with spicy paprika & sweet caramelised onion to add sweetness winning Gold
- Pilgrims Choice ‘The Italian One’ featuring garlic, chives and black pepper to deliver a well-balanced ‘pesto’ flavour winning Silver; and
- Pilgrims Choice ‘The British One’ based on the timeless combination of cheese & onion, but given a flavour boost through the inclusion of a little porcini, roast garlic, honey and black pepper winning Bronze.
“To be honoured as The Reserve Champion Overseas; Champion Overseas Cheddar and Best Irish Cheddar is a tremendous testament to the passion and skill that our cheesemakers take in making Pilgrims Choice,” said Nicola Blackmore-Squires, Ornua Foods UK Marketing Director. “In everything we do we are committed to helping consumers explore, experiment and discover that there is nothing more freeing and enlivening than daring to live a life full of flavour and we are therefore delighted that the superb taste and quality of Pilgrims Choice has been recognised on the global stage.”