Mary Alice Reporting –
A contest all about cheese has been held since 1957, with gold and silver awards presented to Pearl Valley Cheese.
Over 400 dairy manufactures, from 25 countries and 32 American states, submit entries in 85 judging classes.
For Swiss Valley, President Chuck Ellis, says they are a fourth-generation family-owned cheesemaker in Coshocton County.
He explains they started participating in the biannual national and world cheese contest, which is a premiere contest for those in the industry.
There are different categories, but for Pearl Valley, they enter their popular Swiss.
“We make fourteen kinds of cheese and I think we submitted entries in six different categories. The one were more known for is our Swiss cheese and that’s the one we focus on. We’ve gotten the most success with over the years.”
They won gold and silver medals in the Swiss cheese category.
Ellis adds that there is a reason behind why Pearl Valley is able to make a quality product and it’s because of their supplier and employees.
“You can’t make good cheese out of bad milk, so we start with crediting our dairy farmers for the efforts they put in to sending us good milk every day. We have a staff a guy’s right now that are really serious about making good product. We’re very intentional about our quality controls, and this give validation to the efforts that they do.”
These recent awards are among many the company has received at state, national, and international competitions.
More about the company, located in Fresno, can be found at www.pearlvalleycheese.com.
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