SA Dairy Champs say "goat cheese"

Back L-R: David Brown (Sunpower); Norman & Rina Belcher (Belnori Boutique Cheese); Izak Joubert, Jackie Hugo & Estalane Marais (La Rochelle); Jaco van Beulen (Klein River Cheese); Johan Ehlers (Agri-Expo); Dr Dirk Hertzog & Estelle du Preez (Morning Milk); Ilse Hultzer (Fairfield Dairy); Zane Smith (Butlers Farmhouse) Front L-R: Morne Muller (Lancewood); Lourens Heyns (Clover); Riaan Heyns (Lausanne Dairies); Willem Afrikaner & Hansie van Zyl (Parmalat); Francois Colyn (Clover)

A unique hard cheese, which is matured for at least three months, the Goat Peter Farm cheese is handmade by Marianne Joos and Alastair Catto, owners of Goat Peter Cheesery at Hekpoort, north-west of Johannesburg. The milk of Catto's 120 goats has its own taste, representative of the Hekpoort terroir and together with Joos' manufacturing method, creates a unique flavour. Currently this cheese is only available in Gauteng.

La Rochelle Goat's milk Cheese, a very small cheesery from De Doorns did exceptionally well with two Qualité Awards compared to mass producers Clover SA and Fairfield Dairy, who were awarded three each. Lancewood Cheese, Parmalat SA, and Sunpower each produced two Qualité Award winners followed by Belnori Boutique Cheesery, Butlers, Klein River cheese, Lausanne Dairy, and Morning Milk - De Pekelaar each with one.

Gourmands and ordinary cheese lovers will be able to meet some of the makers of the winning products while they taste, eat, drink and play to their hearts' desire at the SA Cheese Festival from 24 to 27 April 2010 at Bien Donné on the R45 between Paarl and Franschhoek.

Fair Cape Dairies Awards

• Fat free Bulgarian yoghurt category: 1st place - Fair Cape Free Range Bulgarian Yoghurt
  
• Fat free flavoured yoghurt category: 1st place - Dairy Connection - Woolworths Pomegranate Yoghurt; 3rd place - Fair Cape Free Range Fat Free Vanilla
  
• Low fat plain yoghurt category: 2nd place - Fair Cape Dairies - Checkers Choice Bulgarian Yoghurt
  
• Low fat drinking yoghurt - flavoured or fruit category: 1st place - Fair Cape Toffee Drinking Yoghurt
  
• Low fat yoghurt - any condiments except fruit and flavorants category: 1st place - Fair Cape Free Range Muesli Yoghurt; 2nd place - Fair Cape Free Range Rooibos Yoghurt
  
• Flavoured milk category: 1st place - The Dairy Connection - Woolworths Strawberry Milkshake; 2nd place - Fair Cape Iced Coffee Hazelnut flavour
  
• Dairy desserts category - vanilla custard category: 1st - The Dairy Connection - Woolworths Vanilla Custard
  
• Non-frozen dairy desserts - other than custard - category: 1st place - The Dairy Connection - Woolworths Chocolate Mousse; 3rd place - The Dairy Connection - Woolworths Cream Caramel

“At Fair Cape we are constantly striving towards our goal of being ‘Better than World Class' by continually improving our consumer offering in terms of product quality, environmentally friendly practices and the wellbeing of our animals. These awards are testament to our vision for the company and it's a great honour to be recognised for our high standards,” says Joel Serman, Fair Cape's commercial manager.

A record 847 entries from 74 large and artisanal manufacturers competed for the much coveted Qualité Award for excellence. A total of 80 products were capped as SA Champions, of which only 20 now carry the Qualité title awarded to products of outstanding quality. The judging panel consisted primarily of dairy technologists and scientists who agree that locally manufactured yoghurt is as good as the best in the world.

Download the full SA Dairy Championships award results here. (PDF)