Now anybody reading this blog knows I start raving about cheese. Its just a fabulous food, so varied and as I have got older so my appreciation for different varieties and different countries cheese has become stronger.
Thanks to my blogger friend Cheryl, I now am mad on Reblochon from France. I adore Swiss Gruyere, while still loving the regional UK cheeses.
I was at the BBC Good Food Show last Friday and at the back near the producers stands were lines of white tablecloths with heavenly looking cheeses from around the world.
Men in white coats with very serious expressions these judges spent their day tasting and smelling and retasting cheese. It was for the World Cheese Awards 2010 and I want that job.
There were a massive 2636 cheeses in total and one that I want to tell you about is a ewes milk cheese Paški Sir from the Sirana Gligora dairy in Croatia, actually from the Island Of Pag.
Sirana Gligora has been established since 1995, the founder Ivan Gligora having generations of cheese making experience in his family, but the new dairy only opened this year in January and the cheese put forward was produced in March, so perhaps they would have been happy with a "New Cheese On the market" award.
I imagine they are blown away with their success that day as Sirana Gligora entered Paški Sir in the ‘sheep cheese cheese‘ category as well as ‘new cheese on the market‘ and ‘small producers cheese‘.
At 1pm and the preliminary results were out, Sirana Gligora was top of each class winning 3 Super Gold Medals and 3 places in the best 30 cheeses of the world, an outstanding result and a great testament to the cheese makers at Sirana Gligora
Paški Sir would have made it all the way through the 2636 international cheeses to the final 14.
To me its like David slaying Goliath, if you know the film National Velvet and Elizabeth Taylor, then its like The Pie winning the Grand National.
Its amazing that a small island dairy enters a big big competion and wipes the cheese board with their cheese.
Did I get to try any, nope!! But I live in hope as its in a few specialist cheese stores in the UK and I am hoping to see it everywhere really soon!
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