TOP honours went to a goat’s milk cheese product in this year’s SA Dairy Product of the Year.
Fairview Estate’s Chevin with garlic and herb took top honours at the SA Dairy Championships of which the winners were announced at the Danisco Qualité Gala Dinner in Stellenbosch.
The Paarl based producer also clinched three Qualité Awards and scooped half a dozen SA Champion trophies.
“This is one of the very first goat’s milk cheeses that we developed,” says proud Fairview cheesemaker, Louis Lourens.
“The name is derived from Chèvre, the generic French term for fresh goat’s milk cheeses and vin, French for wine.”
The soft, mild cheese, made from 70% Saanen goat’s milk and 30% Jersey milk, is rolled in a mixture of garlic and herbs.
Close to 700 dairy products from almost 70 manufacturers competed for the honours in the 2008 SA Dairy Championships presented by Agri-Expo.
A total of 75 products were capped as SA champions, but only 15 received the much coveted Qualité Award for excellence.
Dairy giant Parmalat was the top achiever in the winning stakes with four Qualité Awards, followed by Fairview (three), Lancewood and Panciera Confectioners (two each), Rhodes Foods, Dalewood Fromage, Clover and Klein River Cheese (two each).
Parmalat also took the lead in the SA Champion league collecting 13 championship trophies, followed by Clover and Lancewood in joint second place with eight each, while Fairview raked in six championship awards.
“The SA Dairy Championships stimulate innovation in the dairy industry and encourage dairy technologists to continuously improve dairy products to the benefit of the consumer,” says Kobus Mulder, dairy manager of Agri-Expo.
“Winning a Qualité Award is a prestigious achievement and such a product deserves the attention of consumers.”
