Cheesemakers Win
Another Blue Ribbon

Randolph’s specialty cheesemaker, Neighborly Farms in Randolph Center, has won another blue ribbon at the 2008 Specialty Food Trade show in New York City.

Neighborly Farms owner, Linda Dimmick, excitedly called cheesemakeer David Goldsworthy when the show was over and gave him the news. This year, the business won for its Jalapeno Jack cheese, a variety of Monterrey Jack.

That makes six national awards for Randolph producers in four years, including a blue ribbon last year for its Colby cheese.

Neighborly Farms had entered eight cheeses in the competition, sponsored by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT). Cheeses entered this year included mild, sharp, and bandage-wrapped cheddars (aged the old-fashioned way), Colby, Feta, Green Onion Cheddar, and Monterey Jack plain and with Jalapeno.

"I think it’s a stunning achievement for a small farmstead cheesemaker with just eight years of commercial production," Goldsworthy commented this week. "It makes me so proud to work with Melissa Komorowski (cheesemaker), Linda and Robert Dimmick (owners), Chris Lamson (farm manager), and the staff, as it takes the whole team doing a great job to make award-winning cheese.

"It starts in the organic fields and pastures, where the grass grows and the cows feed," he reflected. "It continues in the barn, where the animals are well cared for and carefully milked. That's where the excellent milk comes from that we craft into the best cheese we know how to make.

"I find it to be very rewarding work in many ways."

While it’s nice to get the awards, Goldsworthy continued, "our best selling cheeses are the ones that have not won awards."

Vt. Butter & Cheese

Also at the New York show, Vermont Butter & Cheese Company was named winner of the 2008 "sofi Gold Award" for its entire product line.

The sofi awards recognize excellence in specialty foods and beverages in 32 categories, and are a coveted industry honor. "sofi" stands for "specialty outstanding food innovation."

Vermont Butter & Cheese Company was founded in 1983 by Allison Hooper, the current president of NASFT, and Bob Reese. It is "dedicated to crafting artisanal dairy products in the European style through a vital network of Vermont farms." The company supports more than 20 family-owned farms.

This year’s contest was the most competitive yet, with a record 2,191 entries. The field was narrowed to 150 Silver Finalists over four days this spring by an independent panel of specialty food experts.

Gold winners were selected by more than 250 retailers and food service buyers attending the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York earlier this summer.