The Farm at Doe Run’s cheese wins best of show fifth year in a row

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Farm at Doe Run, Coatesville, Chester County, won two best in show awards during the cheese competition on opening day of the 2019 Farm Show.

The Farm at Doe Run has won best in show for five years in a row.

Best of show

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Cheryl Cook announced winners of the fifth annual competition including best of show wins by St. Malachi and Seven Sisters from The Farm at Doe Run and Hootenanny from Goat Rodeo Farm and Dairy in Allison Park, Allegheny County.

The best in show winners covered three distinct cheese categories including Swiss and alpine style.

In early December, expert judges evaluated 49 entries in 20 categories from 16 creameries in 11 counties across the state.

Cheeses are submitted in whole wheels or blocks and judged by a team of six technical and aesthetic judges on flavor and aroma; appearance and packaging; body and texture; and cheese-specific characteristics. Pennsylvania ranks third in the nation for Swiss cheese, at 9.1 million pounds per year and fifth in Italian cheese, at more than 250 million pounds per year.

Winners

First-place winners in each category are:

• Cow’s milk cheeses: Paradise Reserve — Alpine Heritage Creamery, Paradise, Lancaster County, flavored cheddar, colby and Monterey; and Jack Hop and Spicy Curdz — Calkin’s Creamery, Honesdale, Wayne County
• Swiss and alpine style: St. Malachi — The Farm at Doe Run
• Soft cheeses: Clover — Valley Milkhouse, Oley, Berks County
• Mold ripened cheeses: Blooming Clover — Aaron K Glick, Quarryville, Lancaster County
• Semi-soft, semi-hard, hard cheeses: Seven Sisters — The Farm at Doe Run
• Goat’s milk cheeses, soft cheeses: Chevre — Linden Dale Farm LLC, Ronks, Lancaster County
• Surface ripened cheeses: Milky Way — Aaron K Glick, Quarryville, Lancaster County
• All milk and mixed milks cheeses, blue-veined cheeses: Birchrun Blue — Birchrun Hills Farm, Chester Springs, Chester County
• Washed rind and smear ripened cheeses: Red Cat — Birchrun Hills Farm, Chester Springs, Chester County
• Smoked Cheeses: Smoke Gouda — Farmer Rudolph’s, Lebanon, Lebanon County
• Flavored soft, semi-soft, semi-soft, hard, cow, goat, sheep, mixed: Cowboy Coffee — Goat Rodeo Farm and Dairy.