Natural Pastures Cheese Company has once again been honoured 鈥� this time at the British Empire Cheese Competition 鈥� for its artisan cheeses made on Vancouver Island.
The Courtenay-based company was awarded top standing in several categories at the Belleville, Ont. event hosted by the Central Ontario Cheesemaker Association. Judges tasted more than 500 specialty cheeses as part of Canada鈥檚 oldest and longest-running cheese competition, now in its 86th year.
Awards were as follows in several categories:
鈥econd place for Boerenkaas, a semi-hard, flavourful cheese that鈥檚 also called 鈥渇armer鈥檚 cheese鈥�;
鈥irst place for Pacific Pepper verdelait, a vibrant cheese flavoured with Comox-Valley grown habanero peppers and black pepper;
鈥econd place for Cracked Pepper verdelait, a semi-firm but creamy cheese spiked with cracked black pepper;
鈥hird place for Mozzarella di Bufala, the rich, hand-stretched and formed mozzarella made with water buffalo milk from Vancouver Island.
All Natural Pastures cheeses are handcrafted under the watchful eye of Swiss cheesemaker Paul Sutter using fresh milk from local dairy farms. The cheeses have garnered various awards over the years.
鈥淭hese awards are a great testimony to the hard work of Paul and all the team,鈥� Natural Pastures鈥� operations manager Doug Smith said.
