Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese is golden in Golden State competition

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. this week was awarded the 2016 California State Fair’s top award: Best in Show cows’ milk cheese for Bay Blue. Additionally, the company’s Original Blue won gold in the semi-soft cheese category, Toma won gold in the California Originals category and fresh mozzarella won bronze for soft cheese. Best of Show is awarded in a finals round of judging where all the Gold ribbon winners are re-evaluated.

Arla Foods’ Castello brand aids consumers with cheese pairings

Castello’s new Cheese Board Builder is an online interactive tool that helps consumers pair Castello cheeses with foods and beverages based on their taste and dietary preferences. Castello is a brand of Arla Foods USA.

To create their personalized cheese boards, users input preferences such as whether they enjoy bold or mild flavors, traditional or unexpected pairings, and creamy, blue or aged cheeses. They can also indicate if the board should be gluten-free, vegetarian, low-sugar or non-alcoholic.

The tool then analyzes the users’ data and generates a cheese board image customized to their preferences. Consumers can save the board for later reference, download or print a shopping list of the cheese board ingredients, or share it via email, Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter. Users also have the option to learn more about the creatively crafted cheeses, food pairings and beverages featured on their board.

Wisconsin’s Emmi Roth and Meister Cheese are partners in Kindred Creamery

Emmi Roth USA, Fitchburg, Wis., and Meister Cheese Co., Muscoda, Wis., formed a joint venture called Kindred Creamery to market classic specialty American cheese varieties.

The Kindred Creamery flavors include sharp, medium and mild Cheddars, Colby Jack, Pepper Jack, Monterey Jack, Natural Smoked Gouda, Sweet Fire Mango Jack, Spicy Sriracha Jack, Wild Ginseng & Garlic Jack, Ghost Pepper Colby Jack, Hickory Smoked Cheddar and Forage Mushroom & Spring Onion Jack. They are sold in 7-ounce wedges and 5-pound random weight loaves.

Meister is a third-generation specialty cheese manufacturer. Emmi Roth USA is a division of Emmi Group, Switzerland.

Milk for the Kindred Creamery brand is provided through Meister Cheese’s Cows First animal welfare program. The program requires the cows to have unfettered access to the outdoors, to be free of Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rbST) and prohibits tail docking and animal byproducts in feed. Meister Cheese pays dairy farmers up to an additional $1 per hundredweight premium for adhering to the Cows First protocol.

“The synergies and complementary strengths between our companies is what led to this partnership,” said Tim Omer, president and managing director for Emmi Roth USA.

Source: Company reports