Jasper Hill Farm of Greensboro takes two spots in Top 20 World’s Best Cheeses

GREENSBORO — The World Cheese Championship Contest, held in Madison Wisconsin this week, announced the top 20 final candidates in the running for the top prize out of a record 3,667 international entries.

Jasper Hill Farm of Greensboro made two of these winning cheeses.

The fact that Highlander, Jasper Hill’s newest cheese, was among the finalists was especially gratifying for the company’s growing team.

Highlander is a mountain-style cheese made with goat milk from Jasper Hill’s new collaborative venture, Bridgman Hill Farm.

The cheese has a rosy orange washed rind and a smooth, pliable texture.

Judges said they appreciated its richness of texture, savory complexity and milky sweet character.

Lait Bloomer, also in the Top 20, is a variation of Little Hosmer made by Jasper Hill Creamery, which is sent unripened, to the Murray’s Cheese aging facility in Long Island City, NY.

The affineurs at Murray’s then coat the young cheeses in dried flowers and herbs before letting the cheese’s white flora ‘bloom’ through the coating for a gorgeous, festive appearance and herbaceous aromas.

“It’s a huge honor to be recognized at this high-level competition amongst such excellent cheeses from all over the world, and in the friendly, cheese-rival state of Wisconsin no less,” Said Zoe Brickley, who oversees Jasper Hill’s marketing efforts. “Our young team has demonstrated that curiosity and tenacity in service of a community-focused mission can produce amazing results. I’m so proud to be a part of that team.”

Jasper Hill is an independently owned, working dairy farm with an on-site creamery in the Northeast Kingdom.