Keen’s Cheddar wins public vote to claim People’s Cheese 2024 title

Following three rounds of tense public voting, Extra Mature Cheddar by Keen’s Cheddar in Somerset has been crowned the first ever People’s Cheese champion. 

During the live online final, broadcast on Friday 11 October, cheese lovers from all over the UK tuned in with their cheese boxes to taste, deliberate and cast their votes, before the traditional unpasteurised cheddar took the top prize.

This latest accolade for the Keen family reflects the enduring popularity of traditional artisan cheddar cheeses, coming over 127 years after production began at Moorhayes Farm in 1899.

Five generations later, under the stewardship of George Keen, the family is still making cheese with raw milk from their 250-strong herd of Friesian cows, with Keen’s Extra Mature Cheddar matured for 18 months to achieve a moist texture and full-bodied flavour, with onion notes and plenty of delicious tang.

Organised by The Real Cheese Project, People’s Cheese 2024 was created to get more people eating and talking about Britain’s artisan cheese, with this year’s ‘Heritage Edition’ focusing on territorial styles. 

All named after the locations that they originated in, this group of traditional cheeses includes Cheddar, Stilton, Red Leicester, Caerphilly, Cheshire, Double Gloucester, Lancashire, and Wensleydale, with Dunlop also featured as a Scottish heritage cheese.

Rounds 1 and 2 took place at Chiswick Cheese Market, beginning with over 40 entrants into the nine categories. Hundreds of marketgoers took part and voted for their favourites during these early rounds, ultimately selecting the four finalists; Blue Stilton by Cropwell Bishop Creamery in Nottinghamshire; Extra Mature Cheddar by Keen’s Cheddar in Somerset; Mrs Bourne’s Cheshire Cheese by Bourne's Cheshire Cheese in Cheshire; and Thelma’s Original Caerffili by Caws Cenarth in Carmarthenshire.

Friday’s virtual final was broadcast from Mrs Kirkham's Cheese in Lancashire, and presented by comedian and champion of British cheese, Marcus Brigstocke, alongside The Real Cheese Project co-founder, James Grant. 

The pair were joined by experts including Jane Quicke from Quicke’s, Lucy Cufflin from Chiswick Cheese Market, Jonathan Pearcey from The Crafty Cheese Man, and Graham Kirkham from Mrs Kirkham’s Cheese, who guided the virtual voting panel through their tasting boxes, before everyone was invited to vote for this year’s People’s Cheese champion.

In September, The Real Cheese Project also launched a special monthly subscription box, created to big up Britain’s artisan cheese community and get more people buying the good stuff. Inviting the curd curious to embark on a real cheese adventure, each Cheese Crowd box will come with a new cheese to try, a monthly cheese zine, a hand-picked pairing, a pin badge for new subscribers, and access to an online tasting to meet the cheesemaker. 

5% of all profits will go into a Real Cheese support fund, which will be donated to initiatives that protect, develop and progress real cheese in the UK.

www.therealcheeseproject.co.uk

Instagram: therealcheeseproject

That's Food and Drink and our sister site That's Christmas believe that the Cheese Crowd box would be a fantastic Christmas present for the cheese loving foodies in your life.

Make Mothering Sunday even more special with Godminster

Godminster has something very special to treat well deserving mothers this year, a mature Godminster Cheddar paired with an indulgent fruit cake from The Simply Delicious Fruit Cake Company, all hand-packed in a gift box to make a Cheddar and Fruit Cake Combo. The gift provides the perfect combination of tradition, sweet and savoury.

Godminster's award-winning vintage organic Cheddar is made to a unique 70-year-old recipe and has been made on the farm in Bruton, Somerset for over ten years. The Cheddar is instantly recognisable by its purple wax coating and is available in either a heart or round shape.

Godminster's owner Richard Hollingbery said, "This fantastic combination is so well-known in Yorkshire, where I was born, so to be able to offer this to people throughout the country is great. The fruit cake is made to the highest quality, by a Company we work closely with - the pairing of this with the Cheddar is a match made in heaven."

Godminster's Organic Cheddar and Fruit Cake Combo includes a 400g heart or round vintage organic Cheddar and The New Discovery Fruit Cake and retails at £26.00 including postage and packaging at www.godminster.com

Collier’s Powerful Welsh Cheddar first at Foursquare

Collier’s Powerful Welsh Cheddar is the first cheese brand to exploit the location-based social network Foursquare.
Wales’ award-winning cheese brand enjoys strong customer loyalty and was one of the first cheese brands to embrace social media channels like Twitter and Facebook to engage with its customers.

Foursquare allows users to share their location with friends by “checking in” to attractions, shops, restaurants and pubs via their mobile devices, and sharing “tips” or recommendations. They earn points for checking in and the highest number of “check ins” can lead to them being made the “Mayor” of the venue.

Collier’s Powerful Welsh Cheddar, which is made in North Wales, is urging its Foursquare friends to “check in” at top Welsh tourist venues to discover the Welsh heritage that inspired the award-winning cheese.

“We think it is important to have a two-way communication with our customers,” says Darren Gough, brand ambassador for Collier’s, "and word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing tool."

Foursquare is essentially like word of mouth with people 'talking' via mobile phone and social media.

Says Darren, “I love using Twitter to keep in touch with what’s going on and have my say. And now we have another way to reach the people who are interested in our cheese when they are on the move.”

Visit Collier’s Powerful Welsh Cheddar on Foursquare at https://foursquare.com/collierscheese