Litehouse sweeps ACS blue cheese contest
Bonner County Daily Bee | UPDATED 9 years, 4 months AGO
—Photo courtesy LITEHOUSE FOODS Elizabeth Hawkins-Williams and Jay Peters at the 2016 American Cheese Society competition, where Litehouse Foods swept the blue cheese category, claiming the top three spots.
SANDPOINT — Litehouse, Inc. swept the blue cheese category at the 2016 American Cheese Society competition, following last year’s win in the Rindless Blue Cheese division. The Litehouse team won first place for its Simply Artisan Reserve Double Crème Gorgonzola, second place for its Simply Artisan Reserve True Gorgonzola and third place for its Simply Artisan Reserve True Blue. The 2016 ACS Cheese Contest was held July 27-30 in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Simply Artisan Reserve line is a category leader, and currently is growing by 70 percent. The line of crafted deli cheeses has won accolades by industry experts, retailers and consumers.
“Litehouse has a long heritage of making artisan cheese in a traditional way. Though we are known for our delicious refrigerated salad dressings, our handcrafted blue and gorgonzola cheeses are a point of pride for our employee owners and loved by the families we make them for,” said Margi Gunter, brand manager for deli for Litehouse, Inc. “We are thrilled to earn this top honor for our Simply Artisan Blue Cheese, a longtime favorite of our customers.”
More than 260 cheese makers submitted 1,843 products for this year’s ACS Judging and Competition. Unlike other cheese competitions where cheeses are graded down for technical defects, the goal of the ACS Judging and Competition is to award cheeses that are of the highest aesthetic and technical quality.
Litehouse’s master cheesemaker Marvin Sharp has been making cheese for more than 40 years and crafted the three award-winning cheeses.
Simply Artisan Reserve Double Crème Gorgonzola is made from rBST-free milk, aged for 100 days and made with twice the cream of traditional gorgonzola cheeses. Made with rBST free milk, deliciously rich and developed in flavor due to 100 days aging, Simply Artisan Blue Cheese is crafted, flipped, and salted by hand. A two-time honoree, this cheese was awarded first place at the ACS’s 2015 competition. Simply Artisan Reserve Gorgonzola Cheese is handcrafted and vintage aged a minimum of 100 days, resulting in a cheese that is delightfully smooth and creamy in texture.
Litehouse, Inc. started in the Hope restaurant of the Hawkins family over 50 years ago. Since that time, it has become the leader in refrigerated salad dressings, fruit and veggie dips, sauces, Instantly Fresh® Herbs, blue cheese, and pressed apple cider, manufacturing these delicious products at its three U.S. facilities based in Michigan, Utah and Idaho.
Information: SimplyArtisanReserve.com or LitehouseFoods.com