For the first time I was invited to assist in the judging of the 2016 SA Dairy Championships, 72 judges evaluating 895 dairy products entered by 85 producers, both record numbers. A total of 23 products received a Qualité Award, and one of these was named as the South African Dairy Product of the Year 2016, namely Dalewood Fromage Huguenot 12 months matured. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Lancewood
Banting new Cape Town food craze on everyone’s lips, thanks to Professor Tim Noakes!
Last week I attended a presentation by Professor Tim Noakes on ‘The Science behind Banting Diets’, which was organised by PR-Net and held on the top floor of the Naspers building. I went as a sceptic, but it appeared that almost all attendees were already committed Banters.
I have not followed the initial controversy about Professor Tim Noakes, co-founder of the Sport Science Institute, who published ‘The Real Meal Revolution‘ in which he advocates a ‘LCHF‘ (Low ‘Carb‘ High Fat) balanced diet eating focus to help one lose weight. While ‘LCHF’ was not a very catchy a name for the diet, the ‘Banting‘ word spread like wildfire, being the name of a diet tried with success by William Banting more than 200 years ago. Professor Noakes was not believed initially, given that he had advocated a low fat, high carbohydrate eating plan in the past, and now was turned his thinking around 360°! The medical fraternity is not sure whether to support his recommendations.
Parmalat SA the SA Dairy Champions 2014! Klein River Cheese Grana Dairy Product of the Year!
Parmalat SA was the cream of the dairy crop at the SA Dairy Championships 2014, having won the largest number of champion awards for its dairy products. The Klein River Cheese Grana was named 2014 Dairy Product of the Year at the DuPont Qualité Awards, organised by Agri-Expo a week ago.Klein River Cheese is based outside Stanford, and its award-winning Grana is a slow-matured hard cheese. Its strength, fruitiness, slight sweetness, granular texture, and hard and thick rind preserving the cheese impressed the judges. Chief judge Kobus Mulder said about this cheese: ‘ ...the Klein River Cheese Grana so impressed the judges with its great taste and typical texture that they were in total agreement that this was indeed Number 1‘.
Agri-Expo CEO Johan Ehlers said about the stature of the South African cheese awards: ‘
Sustainably presenting these Championships for 180 years, as well as the impressive growth in number of entries and quality thereof over the last decade, is indeed an achievement of note. The Championships today represents the entire South African dairy industry and is perceived as one of the top dairy competitions in the world’. More than 800 dairy products by 68 dairy Continue reading →
Franschhoek is the Big Cheese in Dalewood Fromage winning 2013 Dairy Product of Year!
Franschhoek has shown its quality of winemaking, by having two of its vignerons (Boekenhoutskloof and Chamonix) being named the top winery by Platter in the past two years. Now the Winelands village is the Cheese Capital of South Africa too, in that Dalewood Fromage has been awarded the 2013 Dairy Product of the Year, for its six month matured Huguenot cheese, at the DuPont Qualité Awards dinner of the SA Dairy Championships.
Dalewood Fromage is located on the outskirts of Franschhoek, and is known for its excellent quality cheeses. Its Huguenot cheese is the largest wheel of cheese made in our country, has a semi-hard brushed rind, and is slowly matured for six months. It has an intense flavour, with nutty nuances. Cheesemaker Rob Visser developed the cheese ten years ago. SA Dairy Championships’ chief judge Kobus Mulder said of the cheese: ‘If this cheese should be available in the Haute Savoie region of France, those discerning cheese experts would appreciate it no end’.
Twelve dairy products were awarded the Qualité mark of dairy excellence: Simonsberg Matured Gouda, Woolworths Mild Cheddar White, Woolworths Salted Butter (all three produced by Parmalat), Klein River Grana, Klein River SA Gruyere, Clover Processed cheese slices, Dalewood Fromage six month matured Huguenot cheese, Woolworths Magical Mousse Swirls (made by Fair Cape Dairies), Fairview Chevin with Garlic and Herbs, Woolworths plain fat free smooth cottage cheese (made by Lancewood), Langbaken Karoo Cheese’s Karoo Crumble, and Rhodes Food Group’s Fior di Latte. Interesting is the domination of the Woolworths brand on this list, although their products were made by three different suppliers! An additional 95 dairy products were awarded SA Champions, out of the total of about 800 dairy products entered by 69 artisanal and commercial producers. A team of 59 judges, including dairy specialists and food writers, evaluated the top dairy products.
The SA Dairy Championships results reflect the passion and quality that goes into the making of dairy products, not only by artisanal producers, but also by the large dairy companies.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfoilio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage