Five Vermont cheese makers recently were honored in San Francisco as the Good Food Awards announced its 2017 nominees.
Grafton Village Cheese Co. received nominations for two of its artisan, handcrafted cheeses: Bear Hill, a 100 percent sheep’s milk, washed-rind, alpine-style cheese; and Queen of Quality Clothbound Cheddar, an internationally-awarded, limited-supply clothbound cheddar made from grass-fed Jersey cow’s milk produced on Farms for City Kids Foundation/Springbrook Farm in Reading.
The other four finalists include: Farms for City Kids Foundation/Springbrook Farm for “Reading,” a raclette-style, washed-rind cow’s milk cheese; Parish Hill Creamery for “Kashar,” an aged Balkan-style, pasta filata or stretched curd cheese made from cow’s milk; Shelburne Farms for “Clothbound Cheddar,” a cave-aged clothbound cheddar made from their award-winning Brown Swiss cow herd raised on grass and non-GMO grain; and Vermont Creamery for “Bonne Bouche,” an aged, 100 percent goat’s milk cheese with a geotrichum rind sprinkled with ash.
Local artisan food producers who were nominated for the Good Food Awards in Confections, Preserves and Spirits included Big Picture Farm for its Farmstead Chocolate covered goat’s milk caramels and Farmstead Caramels, Fat Toad Farm for its Vanilla Bean Goat’s Milk Caramel Sauce and Spicy Dark Chocolate Caramel Sauce, Vermont Amber Organic Toffee for its Fennel Seed Toffee, Tonewood Maple for its Maple Cream, Blake Hill Preserves for its Gooseberry and Elderflower Preserves, Green Jam Man for Honey Sage Pear Jam, Sumptuous Syrups of Vermont for its Farm to Bar Tart Cherry Rich Simple Syrup, and Stonecutter Spirits for its Single Barrel Gin.
