Discover the cheese from SC that was voted the best in the world – 04/12/2024 – Food

Morro Azul cheese, from Vermont Queijos Especiais, was the winner of the third edition of the Brazilian Cheese World Cup, which took place this Friday (12) at Teatro B32, on Avenida Faria Lima, in São Paulo. The result itself was announced in a ceremony at Palácio dos Bandeirantes.

The Brazilian competition is held in partnership with the French World Tours, one of the most important international competitions in the sector – whose recognition was a selection criterion for the cheeses that Lula gave to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Produced in Pomerode, in the interior of Santa Catarina, Morro Azul is a cheese with a mild flavor and super creamy dough, whose structure comes from an oak belt that surrounds it. To eat it, you cut off the top of the cheese and only eat the creamy interior. Each 125g piece costs around R$35 – in São Paulo, supermarkets such as Santa Luzia and St. Marché sell the product.

“It’s a cheese that wins due to its sensorial characteristics. It has dairy notes and all the microorganisms that other cheeses in the competition have, including Swiss ones, but with softness”, says professor Antonio Fernandes, judge of the competition. It is this smoothness that, according to him, conquers the palate at the first taste.

“It’s a cheese that knew how to balance science with the best of our culture, resulting in a very dairy cheese. It’s everything we expect from the professionalization of cheese in Brazil”, says the professor.

Fernandes was responsible for highlighting Morro Azul among the almost one hundred awarded with super gold medals in the first phase of the competition, which also awarded 149 gold medals, 150 silver and 200 bronze. The choice of the teacher took Morro Azul to the second phase, in which a team of judges from different nationalities tested and gave grades to 15 of the 99 recognized with the super gold medal. Around 1,900 cheeses and dairy products were entered.

Morro Azul was tied with the Swiss Le Gruyére AOP Réserve 14 Months, both with an average of 6.13 points, on a scale that goes from 3 to 7. But the Brazilian was the favorite of the jury committee responsible for breaking the tie.

Proud of their production, brothers Juliano and Bruno Mendes, from Vermont Queijos Especiais, were present at the judges’ final tasting. For them, Morro Azul’s greatest asset is the selection of dairy cultures in the recipe, which have high humidity, mold and microorganisms that give the cheese a mild flavor and texture – and transform it throughout its shelf life, which is 60 days.

“When it’s new it’s a very mild cheese, and when it reaches its expiry date it becomes much more complex, with less acidity and more creaminess”, explains Juliano Mendes, who has become accustomed to the awards his creation receives. In the two previous editions of the Brazilian Cheese World Cup, Morro Azul won a gold medal. And it also won a super gold medal in the last two editions of the World Cheese Awards.

“It’s a huge pride for us, as we started with a small production, without knowing where we were going to end up, receiving all this recognition”, says Bruno.

For Débora Pereira, director of SerTãoBras, the Brazilian association of artisan cheesemakers, which produces the Brazilian Cheese World Cup, the competition values ​​Brazilian cheese producers, who have been “Brazil’s sweetheart”.

“Brazilian cheese has a microflora, a terroir, bacteria that give it flavor and personality. We have unique regions, which make the cheeses more special”, says she, who is also a master cheesemaker at the Guilde Internationale de Fromagers. “It’s not just because of our charm that these foreigners are here. It’s because our cheese is very good. It will be as famous as picanha and beer.”