*The latest artisan cheese from North Yorkshire cheese makers, Shepherds Purse, has picked up another award on the international stage. Harrogate Blue has scooped Silver in the World Cheese Awards, run by the UK’s Guild of Fine Food. The cheese competition is one of the most prestigious in the world and it was hosted and judged at the BBC Good Food Show, NEC Birmingham this week.*
For more than 20 years the World Cheese Awards have been bringing together experts from the dairy industry worldwide for the largest cheese contest in the world. This year’s event boasted more than 220 expert graders, chefs, buyers and retailers, who judged more than 2,700 cheeses from 35 countries. Harrogate Blue was awarded Silver in the New Blue Cheese category.
Harrogate Blue is the newest addition to the Shepherds Purse family of traditionally handmade cheeses and is an exclusive, continental style soft blue with a golden-body and a mellow blue flavour with a hint of peppery spice. It is the first cheese launched since founder Judy Bell handed the reins over to daughters Katie and Caroline and it is named after the famous Yorkshire spa town that Caroline now calls home.
The cheese was only launched in June this year and marked the beginning of a full re-brand and packaging re-design for Shepherds Purse. Harrogate Blue is proving a real hit, picking up 5 awards since it was introduced into the company’s blue cheese range.
Caroline Bell, director, Shepherds Purse said: “We are so excited to have picked up another award for our Harrogate Blue. Both my sister, Katie and I and the whole team are immensely proud of our latest artisan cheese and to have been successful on the world stage is absolutely phenomenal. It’s fantastic to fly the flag for Yorkshire too against international competition.”
“Shepherds Purse Website”:http://www.shepherdspurse.co.uk/