Every second year, Norsk Gardsost hosts the Norwegian Championship of Cheese. This years winner was «Kongeosten» from Hitra Gårdsmat – and among the top 10, there were several young dairies!

The championship has changed names and nature several times over the years. It started as an exhibition for brown cheese, before it developed into a championship of artisanal cheese. Today, we even include industrial cheese from Norway – making our competition a true Norwegian Championship.

This year, we also wanted to open up the event for the public. Everyone with a ticket could see the finale and eat from a wonderfully decorated table showcasing all the medal winning cheeses. It was a great success! We also got a lot of media coverage, which was wonderful.

Even though the championship is constantly evolving, its main objective is still the same: Every cheese gets an evaluation from 3-4 judges who write valuable feedback about how the cheese look, smell and taste – and what could be changed in the production to help with potential flaws.

The practicalities of the competition is quite similar to World Cheese Awards, but in a smaller scale. On each judging table, there will be approximately 15 anonymous cheeses. The judges choose one favorite cheese from their table, which is sent to the semifinals. The semifinalists are then evaluated by a jury of 10 special judges, who each picks their favorite to bring to the final. At the final, which is on a stage in front of a live audience, each cheese is presented and given a score by every judge. The cheeses are then ranked based on their total score.

This years winner was «Kongeosten» Hitra Gårdsmat – a hard cheese made from organic, unpasteurized milk. It is matured from approximately a year in their underground cave, which has walls and floor made of stone. This cheese was considered the best of 303 cheeses from 77 producers – which is record numbers for the Norwegian Championship of Cheese.

The blue cheese «Nidelven Blå» from Gangstad Gårdsysteri – which also won the World Cheese Awards in 2023 – got a shared second place. This was especially fun since John Farrand – leader of Guild of Fine Food, the main organizer of World Cheese Award – came to Norway to help out as a judge.

Other than «Kongeosten» and «Nidelven Blå», the top 10 included a soft washed-rind cheese, a blue cheese made from goats milk, the traditional Norwegian cheese «pultost», two hard goats cheeses, a brown cheese and two gouda style cheeses. All ten cheeses came from artisanal cheesemakers, with some productions being quite small or new. For a list with names of all the winners, check out www.nmiost.no/resultater.

For the first time this year, we also tried to make a list of category winners. This was a wish from stores selling cheese, who believe this to be an easier way of communicating results in-between each championship. It will be interesting to learn about their experiences in a year or two!