ASHWAUBENON – Aged cheese is good. Aged cheese judges also are good. But Wisconsin cheese makers understand that to keep both their industry and the United States Championship Cheese Contest strong and credible, they need to introduce new generations into the process while the older generations still are around to share their knowledge.
Standing or sitting at tables in the Resch Expo, with the public and competitors looking on and sometimes asking questions, judges evaluate entries on flavor, body, texture, salt, color, finish, packaging and other attributes. The only equipment they have is their eyes, nose, taste buds and experience. And, it should be noted, a love of cheese.
Each entry starts with 100 points. Judges remove a core sample from the submitted entry, touch it, smell it and taste it, then deduct for defects. The distance between first place and honorable mention is often measured in hundredths of a point, an indication of how exacting the responsibility is for judges. The difference between first and third place in the last U.S. contest was 0.153 point.
U.S. Championship Cheese Contest judge Larry Bell smells a block of swiss before tasting it during the event on Feb. 21, 2023, in Ashwaubenon, Wis.
“There is a knack for to this. They have to have a certain palate they are born with,” said John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, who freely admits he doesn’t have it.
This year’s panel of 41 judges includes cheese graders, cheese buyers, dairy science professors and researchers from 12 states. Five are judging their first U.S. cheese championship, including Valerie Arechiga, research manager of Glanbia Nutritionals in Twin Falls, Idaho.
“New” doesn’t mean fresh off the the street. Although this is her first year judging the U.S. championship, Arechiga has a dozen years experience in cheese making. She began judging at the local level before the Cheese Makers Association contacted her about the U.S. championship.
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