AUSTRALIA’s best cheese and ice cream will be decided this week, with Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show (RQFWS) judging getting underway today at the Brisbane Showgrounds.
The judges will spend four days tasting their way through more than 600 of the country’s best dairy products, in the RQFWS Cheese and Dairy Produce Show and Ice Cream, Gelato and Sorbet Competition.
This year’s grand champions will be revealed this Friday, once the team of expert judges, led by renowned international food judge and cheesemaker Russell Smith, make the tough decisions.
The overall number of entries is slightly up on last year, with 467 cheese and dairy products to be judged, along with 145 ice cream, gelato and sorbet entries.
This year’s grand champions will be revealed this Friday, once the team of expert judges, led by renowned international food judge and cheesemaker Russell Smith, make the tough decisions.
Mr Smith said the products entered into the competition in 2015 were of a very high standard and he hopes to see an even higher quality this year.
“We know some of the companies who’ve entered are making very high standard products this year, so we’re really looking forward to judging them this week,” Mr Smith said.
“This RQFWS is one of the major competitions in Australia, which has gained a national reputation over the last six or seven years.”
The RQFWS unearths Australia’s top food and wine products and is dedicated to celebrating and promoting the nation’s best of the best.
The Dairy Produce Show is one of the RNA’s oldest competitions, stemming back to the first ever Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) in 1876.
While the ice cream, gelato and sorbet competition was introduced as a stand-alone competition in 2011 and was the first in the country dedicated to judging the best in sorbets, gelato and ice cream.
The medal-winning products will be featured during this year’s Ekka on August 5-14.