The 23 best cheeses in Portugal have been announced. From Flamengo to cured cheese, including buttery, atabafado, requeijão, and fresh cheese, all categories were awarded one winner and two honorable mentions, meaning 23 winners and 46 honorable mentions.
The 13th edition of the Portuguese Cheese Competition, organized by ANIL, the National Association of Dairy Industries, featured a total of 182 cheeses in the competition, with each participating company having the opportunity to present one cheese in 23 different categories. This year, a new category was introduced: surface culture cheeses, a type of cheese that is beginning to gain recognition in Portugal. The initiative involved companies from across the country, including the islands.
Blind test
As in previous years, the competition took place in a "blind tasting" format, with judges from diverse backgrounds, including representatives from the cheese sector, control and certification bodies, educational institutions, restaurants and gastronomy, distribution, representatives from industrial companies, and the media.
According to Maria Cândida Marramaque, general director of ANIL, “the Cheese Competition is already an important annual milestone for the sector because of everything it involves. This is an event whose main objective is to promote and encourage the cheese industry, which also contributes to increasing the recognition and positioning of brands among the end consumer. Year after year, we have been able to gather an increasingly diverse range of cheeses, with above-average quality levels, which is fantastic.”
The full list of winners can be found here.
