French sheep’s milk cheese named best in the world
A sheep’s milk cheese produced by a small farmhouse producer in France has been crowned the best cheese in the world — for the second time.
The 10-month old Ossau-Iraty made by Fromagerie Agour, a family-owned business in the southwest of France, was named the big cheese at the World Cheese Awards in Birmingham, England this week, the largest competition of its kind.
It was a narrow victory for the French fromage, snatching the title away from last year’s winner, a British Cornish Blue, by just a few points.
It’s the second time Ossau-Iraty has held on to the title, having been named the champion cheese in 2006. It’s also one of only two sheep’s milk cheeses to be designated with the AOC label in France. The Appellation d’origine controlée — which translates to controlled designation of origin — is a certification protecting a product’s terroir and its place of origin. A cheese claiming to be Roquefort, for example, can only be made in the Roquefort area of France.
Meanwhile, the Ossau-Iraty’s name reflects its geographical location which lies in the Ossau Valley in Béarn and the Iraty Valley in the Northern Basque Country of south-western France.
To respect the natural cycle of the animals, milk and cheese production is seasonal. Milk comes from the Manech Tête Noir and Tête Rousse sheep and the Basco-béarnaises, hardy breeds native to the Pyrenees which spend their lives grazing the prairieside.
Cheese is made using old-world methods with raw, unpasteurized milk and is uncooked and pressed, and aged for between 80 to 120 days.
Online cheese boutique Fromages.com describes the cheese — white, supple and creamy in texture — as nutty and robust in flavor.
Meanwhile, at the World Cheese Awards, Philip Stansfield’s Cornish Blue took the second spot, while a limited edition American Cognac Bella Vitano from Sartori Cheese — a semi-hard cheese aged for a year and steeped in cognac for up to 10 days — took home the third prize.
The full results of the competition will be released Nov. 25.
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