Heady odors and sensory overload as 5,200 cheeses compete for the World Cheese Awards

By JAMEY KEATEN BERN Switzerland AP The first thing that hits you at the World Cheese Awards is the smell Related Articles Thanksgiving salad with pears Parmesan and pomegranate seeds starring puff pastry croutons One good recipe Baked apple cider doughnuts warm the soul dishes you can make ahead for Thanksgiving Fruitful advice for getting the the bulk from a refrigerator and making groceries last longer One good recipe Fig and Peach Tart As the th edition part competition part a celebration of cheese kicked off in Switzerland on Thursday various visitors might wish the offerings had more holes With descriptions of odors including stinky socks and sick dog it s clearly a festival and a challenge for the nose as much as mouths fingers and eyes Welcome to sensory overload Connoisseurs culinary experts and curious consumers flocked to the three-day event in a country where cheese is both food and folklore The first day got going with the competition which featured over cheeses nearly one-fifth from Switzerland Certain countries took part a record count of competitors from Australia to Austria Bulgaria to Brazil All those offerings in the same Bern exhibition hall made for an original m lange of odors But once past that medley of smells the sights flavors and individual scents of the cheeses were tantalizing From Stinking Bishop to camel cheese John Farrand managing director of the Guild of Fine Food in Britain the event organizer says particular people who tell him they don t like cheese it s that awful smelly thing just need to take time and consider the myriad choices I would grab them and sit down with them and take them on that journey through cheese he announced I get so a multitude of people say to me just impulsively I don t like blue cheese and that s impossible really There s so much of a range of blue cheese from over here to over here Farrand gestured around the hall there s dependably a blue cheese for somebody Cheeses from different countries pictured during the th World Cheese Awards at the Festhalle in Bern Switzerland Thursday Nov Anthony Anex Keystone via AP He rhapsodized about a -pound wheel of cheese that teams rolled in and broke or cut open unleashing a powerful cloud of odor The aroma of this Emmentaler just hit me Farrand commented That s the first time that that cheese has distributed its greatness and the aroma just makes you hungry Particular may turn up their noses at bacteria-blued bleu cheeses or reject the strong odors of varieties like Limberger Taleggio Stinking Bishop and poisses de Bourgogne a Burgundy specialty reputed to be Napoleon s favorite and one so stinky that urban legend declares it s banned from population shipping in France Others might not get over the hump of hesitation to taste a camel or buffalo or donkey cheese or cringe at unpasteurized or squishy cheeses More adventurous tasters will try the preponderance gooey or moldy cheeses looking for the greater part rich creamy or meaty varieties on hand For the judges no such compunction It s more about scrutiny savoring criticism and curiosity Strict rules for judges and journalists Scores of judges in yellow aprons circled the rows of long numbered rectangular tables before digging in They sliced wedges out of hard cheeses and pressed them to their noses or used spreaders to scoop up soft cheeses inspecting the consistency and licking or dribbling them onto their tongues The judging zone was set off by a waist-high fence and ropes and safeguard guards kept watch Journalists were allowed into the area only under escort and were only allowed to view and smell the cheeses not taste or even touch them Members of the jury analyze and taste cheeses from different countries during the th World Cheese Awards at the Festhalle in Bern Switzerland Thursday Nov Anthony Anex Keystone via AP It was a blind taste test for the -odd judges on hand All identifying packaging or marking was removed from the cheeses Their job was to poke peruse sniff touch and taste the offerings a tall order with so countless to choose from before making their selections for gold silver and bronze awards based on attributes like aroma body texture flavor and mouthfeel Only those honored as Super Gold made the cut for the glitzy Super Jury selection of finalist cheeses The judges and the residents only located out where the cheeses were from after the voting on each was completed Paul Thomas a cheesemaker from Urstrom Kaese south of Berlin sliced into a blue cheese covered with cherries and billed as having hints of a Manhattan cocktail After tasting it he reported he was pleasantly surprised throughout greater part of that flavor journey But right at the end it leaves me with something just it s a slightly off flavor toward the back of the tongue he added Gouda news for Switzerland Experts admit that choosing a winner is tricky While the final products from the caseiculture the curdling coagulating cheddaring and other processes involved in making cheeses can be judged on aspects like craftsmanship and quality taste is an individual thing This year s winner was Swiss A spezial Gruyere from the Vorderfultigen Mountain Dairy about miles south of Bern which scored points from the jury The raw cow s milk cheese was drained overnight and dry salted before being matured for more than months A creamy flower-sprinkled Cr meux des Aldudes aux fleurs from the village of Etxaldia in French Basque country was runner-up trailed by a -month-aged Swiss Appenzeller Edel-W rzig Other finalists were from Britain Japan the Netherlands Slovakia and the United States Multiple cheeses come away with other accolades More than were selected as national or regional bests such as best American Basque-country Japanese or Ukrainian cheese Other trophies were given out by category such as the best cheddar raw-milk goat or ewe or smoked cheeses While the U S state of Wisconsin hosts the World Championship Cheese Contest and a competition in France selects the world s best cheesemonger organizers of the World Cheese Awards say it s the largest cheese-only event anywhere The competition started in Britain but Italy Spain and Norway have also hosted Swiss cheesemaker Pius Hitz from the Vorderfultigen cheese company lifts the trophy after winning the World Cheese Awards after the final of the th World Cheese Awards at the Festhalle in Bern Switzerland Thursday Nov Anthony Anex Keystone via AP Charlie Turnbull director of the Academy of Cheese poked his nose toward a round soft brownish-orange cheese with a pungent smell caused by the Brevibacterium linens a close relative to the kind of bacteria you get in boys trainers when they re about years old It s challenging Turnbull reported with a slight wince But he added that once one got past the smell the cheese tasted wonderful noting hints of fruit lots of meaty notes specific ham stock At the end of the day taste trumps everything he noted