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The world's best cheese has been named (and it's British)

Cornish Kern, winner of the World's Best Cheese Award
Cornish Kern, winner of the World's Best Cheese Award

Cheese lovers, rejoice - if you want to try the world’s best fromage, there’s no need to hop over to France. The world’s best cheese has officially been crowned and it’s… British.

Cornish Kern, a dark-rind, cow-milk Cornish cheese from the Southwest of England took the top spot at The World Cheese Awards in London. The competition, now in its 30th year, sees 250 judges annually select their favourite pressed curd and this year, it received over 3000 entries from 35 countries.

Produced by Lynher Dairies, the medium-hard cheese is matured for around 16 months and is described as “buttery with caramel notes and a deep savoury aroma”. It is said to be a “flaky and almost dry” in texture and one judge, Whole Foods cheese buyer, Cathy Strange, even called it “visually stunning”.

Scoring 75 points out of a possible 80, the makers were predictably thrilled by the result. Sarah Barnes, technical manager at Lynher Dairies, said: “I’m on top of the cheese world! Throughout the course of the day our Kern went through so many layers of judging, going from 3,001 to 66, to the top 16 and then World Champion and the judges said some wonderful things about our cheese."

“Cornish Kern is a new concept so to see it come to this is so exciting for the company, and a great start for this cheese’s career.”

An Italian Blu Di Bufala made by Quattro Portoni Caseificio had previously been the runner-up in 2012 but scored second place this year with 69 points. Third place was a tie between an Austrian Capellaro from Almenland Stollenkaese and a South African Dalewood Huguenot created by Dalewood Fromage. Both cheeses scored 67 points each.

Two things we're fairly certain of: Cornish Kern will now be top of the Christmas cheese board list for most of the UK and those runners up will be getting a serious look in too.