Yzabelle Bostyn
A PRESTIGIOUS expert panel has named this Mercadona cheese amongst the best in the world.
The World Cheese Awards 2024 have crowned two Spanish cheeses among the top 14 on earth – and the world’s best is made by a Spaniard in Portugal.
Out of 4,786 the world’s best cheese was named as Queijo de Ovelha Amanteigado.
The raw sheep’s milk and vegetarian thistle rennet is sold in Spain’s popular supermarket, Mercadona.
Made by Spaniard Sonia Marroyo, she beat out offerings from 47 countries, including 654 from Spain.
She said: ““It was a great team effort, and a lot of hard work. It means the world.”
Marroyo was also named ‘Best Female Cheesemaker’ and her cheese the best in Portugal.
It was honoured for its soft, creamy texture, consumed by cutting off the top to reveal an almost liquid interior which is scooped up with a spoon or bread.
Author and expert Patrick McGuigan said: “That thistle rennet gives the cheese a wonderful breakdown so it goes very gooey and buttery but then you get this lovely herbal bitterness from these cheeses as well. This is really good example of that balance.”
The other two Spanish cheeses in the list are La Cava Barus, a cured cheese made from unpasterised cow, sheep and goat milk.
It is made in Ciudad Real by the Garcia-Baquero cheese makers and placed fourth in the rankings.
The other prize winner, taking 12th place, was the Valleclaro soft goat’s cheese, made in Jaen by Quesos y Besos using goat milk from Malaga.
Some 240 judges evaluated the almost 5,000 cheeses to find the top 104 in the world, which were then whittled down by an expert panel to find the 14 winners.
It marks a record participation in the awards, the world’s largest cheese-only competition.
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